Spirituals
by AliceSprings
Summary: In America, everybody knows about mutants. But England remains oblivious, despite the overrun mutant population there. Only they don't call themselves mutants. They are known as Spirituals. So when Alice Embers finds out she's an all powerful spiritual, everything gets weird. She's now involved in a war between worlds and has to deal with an ancient prophecy. Fun, right?
1. Prologue

I never meant to start this. If I could have stopped this, I would have. Hopefully, none of you will have the extreme misfortune to be like me.

Remember this story is fictional unless you believe it, I hope.

To ensure no complaints will come after reading the following story, please sign the below:

I believe this story is untrue and, therefore, fictional. If any of the following events happen to me I will not press charges, but simply do my best to remain sane*.

Signed** _

*again I sincerely hope you are not like me.

**usually I would ask for you to sign in blood, but red pen or ketchup work just as well.


	2. Chapter 1

My life was normal, until I turned 16—that's when it all in changed...

 ** _BEEEEEEEP!_** I woke up, startled by the sound, **_BEEEEEEEP!_** The alarm clock shrieked again. I rolled over and hit the 'snooze' button on the wretched thing. Today was the first day of school holidays, _and_ my birthday—why should I have to wake up at 6am?

I stretched and groaned, rolling over once more, hoping more sleep would find me. I wasn't so lucky.

My big brother (Luke) burst in at that second, singing. If you haven't heard Luke sing, consider yourself lucky, it is not a pleasant thing to endure. His brown hair was a mess—as usual—but his green eyes gleamed. My hair was a lot like his, except I had a green streak in my hair that matched my eyes, and obviously, it was a lot longer.

"Oh, little sis don't you look _debonair,_ " why are brothers so _infuriating?_ "Today of all wonderful days..." his taunting continued, becoming more incomprehensible and quiet by the second. I groaned again and sat up; wandering what was keeping Luke so quiet, not that I minded. Luke wasn't there...

I stood up, curious as to where my brother had gone. Then I decided I didn't care. I opened my drawer and put on the first things my hands touched—a pair of faded blue jeans and an old red strap top—and rushed down stairs, into the living room. My parents waited there with Luke, surrounded by presents, great.

They were all vividly coloured and usually large, except one. It was a dull grey, with an aged yellow envelope—sealed with a red wax seal, decorated with a picture of an intricately designed butterfly.

"Happy birthday Ali" My family shouted together.

"Why don't you open your presents, _dear._ " Luke sneered on the endearment; I couldn't even escape teasing on my birthday. I took a large hot pink box and tore at the wrapping. A new tennis racket and ball. I unwrapped my way through the mess of colour, announcing each gift and thanking my family as I went along, until I found what I was after, the grey box. I grabbed the gift and carefully untied the strings that held the letter to the parcel. I peeled away the seal, took out the folded paper and began to read.

 _Dear Alice,_

 _I think it is time you found out the truth. You are no ordinary girl. You—and only you—hold the key to saving or destroying the world. Follow my instructions and you will do what is right. Trust nobody but me and the friends I introduce you to. You cannot even trust your family. Stay with Luke, he will help and protect you, he is one of us. He will bring you to me._

 _Remember: you cannot trust anyone but me, Luke and our friends,_

 _Hope_

The letter left no clear instructions as far as I was aware, so I opened the present, Luke watching my every move. It was an old folio style book, bound with aged black leather. I didn't dare open it in front of my family; so, instead I told my parents I was going to my room, gazed at Luke—showing him to follow me—and ran upstairs. Luke followed.


	3. Chapter 2

I ran straight to my room, leaving the door open. Moments later the door closed softly. I turned to face Luke. He looked apologetic, but livid and vexed at the same time.

"I can't believe this! Not now...so young, _too_ young. How _dare_ she do this to me, to Ali...?" Luke whispered, looking very distressed.

"Luke?" I asked softly, he looked up, "what's going on? What's wrong? Who's she? Who's Hope? Please tell me..." I trailed off, silenced by his tortured expression.

Luke told me to change into my shorts—we were apparently going somewhere quite hot—then meet him in his room. He left me alone to change, I was glad to have some time to think for myself. This whole thing had me more confused than I'd ever been in my life. I dressed in a daze, not even bothering to look in the mirror to see how I looked, then, grasping the strange book walked to my brother's room and rapped timidly on the door. It opened. I walked in, looking around (I'd never been in this room before), and closed the door silently. I sat down on the sofa Luke pointed to and waited... waited... waited. Finally Luke turned to face me, his expression still agonised.

"Ali you know I love you, right?" he paused, I nodded. "Then please, please believe me when I tell you this... I don't want you to have to do this. It is too dangerous for a little girl"—I opened my mouth to protest, but he continued—"to try. Hope is wrong and...And..." he trailed off in horror. "Come on Ali, we have to go." He grabbed my wrist and rushed me to his window. He pulled me onto his back like he was giving me a piggy-back-ride, and jumped lithely out the window, landing silently. He then broke into a run. I held on so tight, it should have choked him, because he was running extremely fast, too fast. Yet, strangely, his breathing never sped up, he never started panting. This was strange. None of this made sense, it had to be a dream, but it felt real, too real. Suddenly we stopped; we were at an ancient temple, made of marble and glass. Luke gently loosened my strangle hold then set me on the ground.

"How did you do that? Run so fast...jump so far so easily...?" I asked, confused. Luke sighed, but didn't answer. He led me inside silently. A tall girl with unusual bronze hair and a short azure dress on waited for us.

"Luke, you're back—finally." The girl said, and then turned to me, "hi Ali, I'm Hope. I'm sure Luke has explained everything to you." She smiled kindly at me; I smiled back and shook my head. Hope frowned. She gestured for Luke and me to follow her. She led us down a long hallway and in to a huge empty room. She turned to face us then, smiling again.

"Ali, you are a very important person, with an extremely powerful gift. In this world there are many people who can do things that are above the norm." Hope began, looking at Luke. "Once in every few generations, these people use their powers in a bad way. I bet you're wondering what I can do...let me show you..." she stopped raising her hand. Luke—who had never let go of my wrist—pulled me back, away from Hope.

"NO!" he bellowed, almost growling. He continued to pull me back, while Hope began advance, coming towards us with her fingers out stretched.

Then it happened... a bolt of black lightning shot out of Hope's fingers, hitting Luke straight in the chest...


	4. Chapter 3

Two men entered the room at that very moment. Luke still didn't let my wrist go, even though Hope had just shot at him. He still stood tall, pulling me away from Hope and the men. He stopped. I'd lifted my hand up. Hope and the men stopped. Another bolt of black lightning shot, but this time out of my hand. The men gasped as the bolt hit the ground in front of them. Hope smiled and stepped forth.

"Don't come any closer. I'm warning you..."I lifted my hand again, but Luke yanked me back through the open double doors, and then stopped. Two more men came up from behind us. A cage of fire built around us, we were trapped.

I was taken away from Luke, separated in to a cage of clear ice. I watched what the two men did, realising my power. I could copy other people's powers and use them as my own. Once the men were finished I lowered my still-raised hand and the fire and ice crumbled to nothing.

Luke didn't seem surprised; he already knew about my power. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me on to his back. Breaking into his inhumanly fast run, Luke told me about different powers.

"All powers can be extremely dangerous. I can run so fast and move so lithely, nobody would ever be able to see or catch me; Hope can shoot multiple lightning bolts from her hands and hurt many others. Those men can each control a different element (fire, water, earth and air); some can read minds, tell the future, move things with their minds and so forth...but you, Ali, you can do something _much_ more powerful than any of that. You can copy any other power you've seen, heard of, or read about. Many..."Luke paused looking for the right word, "people would love to use you and your powers to destroy old families of spirituals—people like us, with special powers—and take over the world. I think Hope is one of them, so I'm getting you as far away from her as possible. I'm going to take you somewhere safe, I promise." We were silent for the rest of the journey. We stopped in the middle of the forest, far away from the temple. Luke began to walk very slowly, he continued like this for awhile, headed north-west.

A few hours later Luke stopped again. We had come to a large cottage made of four trees twisted together to make a shelter, then differently coloured plants, rocks and minerals to make patterned walls. A telekinetic?

Luke set me on the ground—still gripping my wrist—and led me inside the cottage. It was brightly lit by glowing crystals and bigger than the outside would've given away. A girl, about my age, stood, facing away from us. She wore a dress that seemed to be made of large freesia petals, with red hair that flowed down to her ankles, even when tied up in a log ponytail. She didn't seem to realise that we were there, until she turned round, her expression pained.

"I saw her... so young, _too_ young..."she whispered. I recognised the words Luke had spoke in my bedroom.

"I know. You said you saw her...did you see her..." Luke trailed off, not needing to say the word for everybody to understand what he meant. But who were they talking about?

"Yes, she was." The girl sighed, "You must be Ali. I'm Lottie, I can see the future. I already know about your power...but then again, who doesn't?" she trilled a tinkling laugh. What did she mean 'who doesn't'? Luke shot Lottie a dark look.

"She doesn't know! Luke!" Lottie laughed again "Ali there is a prophecy—not like my ones, one from an oracle—that speaks of a spiritual with your power, and each power is utterly unique. I think it goes like this:

 _'_ _On the blue-mooned midsummer night,_

 _the copying one will arise,_

 _Her powers fully developed,_

 _as the Earth's saviour or demise.'_

"It has to be you. Powers take a few weeks or months to fully develop, depending on how extreme the power is. Yours would take a few months, three to be precise, on 21st of June."


	5. Chapter 4

Lottie led us down the corridor and into a small hall. Other children—yes they were only children—were practicing using their powers. A tall blond-haired boy stood in the corner, making two plants grow and twist around each other—that explained the plant structure. A little girl, only 7, was facing another girl, babbling something about missing someone—a mind reader. Many others were practicing a range of different powers. I stopped when I saw one boy, he was facing a teenage girl, who was writhing in pain on the mossy floor. I shuddered. Luke noticed and pulled me back a foot, so I was standing behind him. He stood over me, facing the children, his arms stretched out to the sides protectively. Lottie sighed and pulled me away from Luke, who relaxed his protective position, but kept his eyes on the boy.

"Don't worry Ali, Harvey's just practicing, the girl's not really hurt, it's a mental illusion." Lottie reassured me, "Watch Stephanie, that little girl next to Harvey." As Lottie spoke a girl in jeans and a mauve cotton top walked to stand next to the boy, focusing on the girl in pain. I watched as the girl became calm and my fear ebbed away. The girl was protecting her in some way, which must have been her power. Both Harvey and Stephanie looked up and the teenager got up. She then turned to Harvey, whose eyes suddenly went blank. Stephanie concentrated for a second, and then her eyes went blank too. I wondered what was going on. The 7 year old girl's head snapped up suddenly.

"NO! Not now...why...how could he? Ugh!"She bellowed.

I flinched, surprised by the volume of her voice.

"Sorry." Luke whispered, grabbing my wrist "I didn't know this would happen." I looked curiously up at Luke. He shook his head, as if to say _don't worry, I'll tell you later._ He pulled me back again, and then stepped in front of me. I'd never seen this side of Luke—the caring, overprotective and overreacting side; the side that protected me at that very moment.

Lottie put a restraining hand on Luke's shoulder. He sighed and stepped back to my side, not letting go of my wrist.

It was too quick for me to realise what was going on, but suddenly I was half-way across the room. Luke, who was holding me behind his back, was staring at the door to the hall. Lottie was running to catch up with us. Harvey was watching the door too, concentrating on it alone. Others with offensive powers were doing the same. Then Stephanie was running too, Lottie and her both caught up with us at the same time. Then I understood. Somebody was coming, somebody bad.


	6. Chapter 5

The wooden doors swung open and Lottie heaved a sigh of relief. A little boy came through the doors, which closed behind him. Evidently this newcomer was a friend—a telekinetic. I relaxed, but Luke still glared at the boy. Again Lottie sighed and pulled me away from Luke. Luke didn't react the way he did before; instead of relaxing, he grabbed my wrist again, like he was going to pull me back out the way. Lottie shot him a dark look and he calmed down slightly.

"You were in a better mood yesterday, you know." Lottie told him, "You weren't so pushy and overprotective." Luke calmed down then, letting go of my wrist for the first time. The boy walked over to us and Stephanie began to concentrate on me, protecting me, I guessed. Nothing had changed but the atmosphere suddenly seemed very tense. The boy was still walking towards us, Luke was still watching him, Lottie was still watching Luke, and Stephanie was still concentrating on me. Then I understood. _I_ was the one controlling the emotional atmosphere, copying a power I'd once read about. I calmed down, and the atmosphere calmed down with me, everybody seemed to relax. The boy reached us then, grinning with the suddenly calm atmosphere, obviously guessing my powers.

"You must be Ali. I'm Jay." The boy said, still grinning. Luke growled. I used my new powers to read his mind. He didn't want Jay to know about me. I chuckled under my breath. "What! What's so funny?" Jay asked, utterly perplexed

"Luke."I giggled, Lottie and Jay laughed too. Luke growled again and they all stopped. Luke wasn't the same. He seemed different...less Luke. I remembered how teasing and seemingly euphoric he was this morning; now he was melancholy and angry, not the Luke I knew. I tried to use emotional power to lighten his mood, it worked. His growling cut off and he grinned.

"Time to see what you can do sis!" he said, smiling. I smiled too, and then grimaced. There was too much to do, so much to practice. Luke turned to Lottie. "You might want to clear the room...or house. Ali might knock it down." He teased. Lottie, Jay and Luke laughed. I joined in.

"I have an idea. If Ali is mentored by each of my students, then she will learn all their powers and how to control them." Lottie turned to me. "The more you learn; the better. You _need_ to be able to defend yourself. I won't force you into anything if you don't want to do it. Remember this is your choice, you can still choose to leave here and go off on your own." She looked at Luke. "Well not _alone_."

"No, I can't leave this place. I want to stay here. This is my new home." I said confidently, "I better start now if I want to be ready soon. Let the lessons begin!" I tried to sound enthusiastic.

I stated with telekinesis from Jay. He was patient and helped me, even though I could do it within ten minutes. He helped me enhance it. By the end of his lesson I could lift a million times my own mass.

Next was telepathy. I could already do it, but my mentor, Whitney, insisted she should tutor me more. I worked very hard and learned some very useful new skills...

Shielding was more difficult. It took me a solid hour for me to master it. I could now create a shield up to ten miles in diameter, and completely invisible.

Speed was easy—it took me one second to run round the whole hall twice (and beat Luke by three seconds!). Agility was just as easy. My progress was starting to worry Luke.

Then I tried more specific powers. First was ice. I felt like Elsa from the movie Frozen, it came naturally. Control over water was just as easy.

"Maybe you should take a break." Luke said eventually, anxiety colouring his voice. The over-protective Luke was back. I lightened his mood again and he began to tease me. I liked this Luke—the teasing, sneering big brother. "We don't want you getting _too_ tired... _poor little Ali_." I giggled. Breaks were not compatible to the amount of work I had...or were they.

"I agree, Ali. You need a break. You've learned several new powers in ninety minutes," Lottie said, trying to persuade me. "You must be tired." I wasn't though, I was ready. Each lesson made me stronger—less tired, more active.

"Not at all—each time I learn something new I feel...stronger." I said, smiling as the feeling spread through me once more. Nobody responded. My lessons continued. Lottie stalked out the room as they did, Luke following her.

Next on the agenda was offensive power, starting with Harvey. The only problem was who to practice on. Harvey suggested I should use Stephanie as my 'victim', since she could protect herself so she wouldn't feel the full force of the pain. She would only feel a slight soreness, which made me feel better.

Stephanie gave me the signal (a thumbs-up) telling me she was ready. I concentrated on Stephanie, hoping this would work. She fell to the floor, writhing in agony.

I stopped and Stephanie got up. Everybody was staring at me. Luke burst in. Suddenly he was in front of me, gripping my wrist again.

"What's going on…?" I whispered.

"Just stay behind me." He whispered back.

"No. What's going on?" I asked again.

"You're too strong. That was the strongest shield they have." He hissed. My eyebrows drew together. So, I was being blamed for being a freak among freaks?

"So, I should go?" I asked, confused.

"Yeah. Go home, I'll meet you there." He said.

So that's what I did.

The trees that made up the wall parted so I could leave, and I did, the wind rushing behind me as I took off back home.

When I got there, I leaped back into Luke's room, the same way he did. I strode to my room and sat on my bed, deep in thought. There had to be something I could do.

If I stayed with Luke, Hope could come, or I could hurt him by accident. I had to leave. Go somewhere. But how?

My parents would be worried sick though… with a wave of my hand, I tried to wipe the memory of me away. I think it worked. I listened to their conversation.

"You were talking about somebody called Ali. Who's that?" it sounded like it worked. Thank goodness. I wrote a quick note for Luke, explaining what I'd done, and that I was leaving. But I still needed a way out…

Well, my problems were solved for me, when I heard a pained squawk.

Thinking of Luke—which was admittedly dumb, Luke wasn't a bird so why would he squawk?—I grabbed the medical kit from under my bed (I was accident prone!).

I jumped out of the window, landing silently. The impact stung my calves a bit, but I was otherwise fine. It was a gryphon. He strained against a rope net. For some reason unafraid, I rushed forwards. I took out the medical scissors. They were strong enough to cut through the rough rope.

The gryphon sprung to its feet. I backed up, trepid. But he didn't attack me. Instead, he rubbed up against my legs, like an overgrown cat. I laughed and stroked his head. Well at least I had a way to get where ever I would go.

"Do you want to stay with me?" I asked it gently. It squawked happily, which I took for a yes. "Then you'll need a name. Griffy. Like that?" Griffy squawked again, still happy. I had one _weird_ life.

My life which I thought couldn't get weirder—hopes are never good enough—did. Hope appeared at the end of the garden, she spotted me. If I flew off would she leave my parents—and Luke—alone?

I jumped on to the gryphon and let it sail smoothly into the air. Hope took a shot at us, but I made a shield in time. I hadn't tested any new powers yet, so I tried some I learnt with Lottie.

I shot a fireball at her. A lightning blast broke it apart.

Then I did try something new. I'd heard of this power before. I reached into Hope's mind...

Nothing. She was blocked. Thank you Whitney for the new trick. I searched the nearby area and found what I wanted. A small piece of bark on an oak tree in our front yard had a carving of a pentagram. Luke you are _amazing!_ The bark was perfect. I used my power to rip it silently from the tree. I shot my new ammunition towards Hope.

Then he appeared.


	7. Chapter 6

Ok. Let's start with the good news: my bark broke Hope's shield and I managed to pour into her mind and control it until she slept. Bad news: a boy with shoulder-length blonde hair and a thin build came out of the woods. His eyes glinted purple. A spiritual. Just what I needed. I had to pretend I wasn't as powerful as I truly was. Maybe he could help me. Probably not.

"It's ok. I won't hurt you." Said a voice. The boy. He laughed shortly. I felt his words wash over me with astonishing power. I almost laughed at his attempt. I was completely shielded! Then I realised. That was what he wanted. He wanted me to shield myself. I stopped my shield and landed. I slid off the gryphon hesitantly. A laugh sounded behind me.

"Nice try, Ali, child of the prophesy. You're more powerful than the prophesy says." The boy appeared behind me. Why had I come down? Idiot. I'd played right into his hands!

I manipulated the plants around me, making them stir as if the wind had picked up. The boy didn't notice. I started to entwine them slowly, making a small barrier between me and the stranger. I made a net over Hope after a moment of thought. Griffy took to the air. A smile played on the boy's lips. Annoyed, I looked into his mind.

 _Don't change._ He thought. _Stay calm. Don't hurt her. Stay calm. She's the only one who can help you._

How could I help him? I took an involuntary step back. Pain flickered in his eyes and I cursed myself. Why am I so dumb? He obviously was scared of himself, so others being afraid too must be worse.

"Come on. I'm Leo. Just come please. You'll be safer with me." He said. I still wondered what he meant about me helping him. I took a hesitant step towards him. I really had no choice. I couldn't fight him, at all. So I stepped again. Then again. He smiled and reached for my hand. I let him lead me into the forest.

I wasn't sure about Leo. He seemed strange. He was always telling himself to calm down. Once or twice I caught him staring at me wistfully. It made no sense. But I followed him through the woods. I don't know why, but I trusted him. I hoped I wouldn't regret it.

We stopped near a clearing. Leo crouched down. I did the same. I looked ahead into the clearing. A familiar marble and glass temple lay ahead. I squelched a shout. Leo had led me back to Hope. I had to run.

Leo turned to me and reached out. I recoiled. Stupid girl. I'd done it again. Played right into his hands. I moved away from him slowly, as if he was a snake. He _was_ a snake slithering closer to me; just waiting for the right moment to strike. I had to get from him.

The fear must have been clear in my eyes, because he hesitated. I took my chance and run. I was too scared to even use my power. I just ran. I knew Leo was following me. But he was far behind.

I reached a clearing and whistled as softly. Griffy appeared at once. Smart boy. Maybe he would be smart enough to keep me from doing anything stupid. I had just reached him when Leo came out of the woods, running to us. He froze when he noticed Griffy behind me. Then they came out, their blue and silver armour glinting in the sunlight. At least a dozen soldiers came out of woods, surrounding us. Leo swung into action. A backpack appeared in his hand. He opened it and drew a mallet. What was he _thinking?_ Griffy took off.

Each of the soldiers drew a katana of pure silver. One held a silver bow and had a matching quiver of arrows over his shoulder. I concentrated on making them fly to me. Moments later I'd notched an arrow and was taking aim. Leo moved close to me, holding his mallet tight. The backpack had disappeared.

"Disappear. Confuse them. I can handle myself. Go." I whispered. Leo stared at me like I'm mad. "It's our best chance. Their amour has so many weak spots I can shoot at."

"You can shoot?" Leo asked incredulously.

"Best sharpshooter at the paintball course. And the only one who can use a sling properly." I said proudly. Leo shook his head, annoyed, and disappeared.

Three soldiers charged at once. I aimed at a small chink in the armour on the shoulder. The first soldier staggered back on impact and grasped the spot I hit. My arrow had punched though the armour, hitting his unprotected shoulder. I turned to the second soldier and took aim at a chink on the kneecap. I shot, not even looking to check if I'd hit my target. The third soldier was closing in on me too fast. My eyes swept over the enemy ranks. Leo was doing his job well. The others were swinging their swords madly, hitting only empty air, or more often, another soldier. I laughed.

The third soldier slammed into me, pushing me to the ground. He swiped his katana at the air above me teasingly. I made the sword swing up, raking a deep cut across his cheek. He growled. I made his sword flick up and fly across the clearing, slamming the flat on the blade into one of his comrade's helmets, knocking the man unconscious. I scrambled to my feet and grabbed an arrow out of my quiver. I plunged it into his shoulder via a chink. The man staggered back, gripping his shoulder. I ran to the edge of the clearing.

"LEO!" I yelled. We had to get out of here. Leo appeared at my side instantly.

"Never yell your comrade's name in a battle, dummy." Leo said, grinning.

"Oh, shut up. I haven't ever even used a bow and I just beat a well practised soldier in close combat. I bet you can't do that." I said smugly.

"Not how you did it. I would have done better!" Leo's grin widened. I elbowed him in the gut. Hard.

"Let's get out of here now. These guys don't take losing well." Leo said. I glanced back at the clearing. The man I fought was glaring at me as he patches his wound. I turned away and whistle loudly. Griffy swooped down to meet me. Nudging my leg, he looks pointedly at Leo.

 _'_ _I am not taking_ that _on my back. It can walk.'_ Said a voice in my head. It must be Griffy.

I ruffled the feathers on his head and told him that Leo had to come. Leo smiled smugly at the gryphon.

' _Can I at least bite it if it does that?_ ' I laughed and nodded, watching as Griffy approached Leo. Then he sprang and bit Leo on the nose. At Leo's yelp I burst into laughter, unable to control myself. Griffy rubbed up against my legs innocently. I climbed on his back and reached my hand to help Leo on. He grimaced at the gryphon.

"Don't be so smug and he won't bite you!" I said, almost laughing at the glare he gave me. "Just get on, dummy."

Leo did, gripping my waist hard as we took off.

Leo's grip on my waist didn't loosen once the whole 6 hours we were on Griffy. Was Leo actually scared? Ha! Flying felt amazing. If you've ever gone downhill _really_ fast on a bike, it felt a million times better than that.

We landed in another clearing, quite a lot smaller than where we were attacked, to rest. I had to pry Leo's fingers off my waist before I got down. I grinned and stroked Griffy's head. Leo stumbled off Griffy and staggered around, momentarily catching my attention. I grabbed his arm before he fell, and led him to a shaded spot under a large tree. He sat down with a soft thud, pulling me down with him. I sat down near him, stumbling slightly. The night sky shone with stars, relaxing me.

"Don't ever make me do that again." Leo said slowly.

"Do not throw up on me, or I will drag you on to Griffy and let him do a few tricks. He really wanted to do some loops." I said warningly. Leo gave me a weak smile. I called Griffy over. He lay down next to me and fell asleep within seconds. I stroked his head absently.

"Why are you helping me?" I asked Leo eventually.

"I'm selfish, that's why." He answered shortly. I reached into his mind to see what he meant.

 _I can't change. I'll hurt her. I can't tell her, she'll_ _try to help me._ He thought.

I saw an image in his mind: a girl, blood pouring from her stomach. She was pale and lifeless. Whatever Leo turns into, it caused him to do that. The girl had blonde hair, exactly like Leo's. It was his sister.

I still didn't understand why he needs me, but I do understand the bit about 'changing', kind of. I know he can't 'change' because last time he did he killed his own sister, by accident. I hope.

"Ok… Why did you take me to the...?" I couldn't finish. I was shaking. I moved closer to Griffy's warmth, to stop the uncontrollable shaking, it didn't help though.

"Are you cold?" Leo asked, avoiding my question. Like I'm going to let it slide. No way.

"I'm fine." I replied. "You didn't answer my question."

Leo frowned. I didn't want to push him. I looked at him for a second, studying his features in the moonlight. His expression was unreadable. I looked away, down at Griffy, calm as he sleeps.

I rested my head against the soft fur of his back. Leo sighed softly as I drifted to sleep.


	8. Chapter 7

Leo shook me awake. Griffy was standing over me, peering into my eyes. I pushed his head away.

"You never did answer my question, you know." I said to Leo.

"I can't tell you." He replied icily. What was up with him? One minute he was acting like my friend, next he was treating me like a bitter enemy. I'll never understand boys.

"Is it about 'changing'?" I asked slowly, hesitantly. Leo flinched. I reached for him, grabbing his arm. He didn't notice.

"How do you know about that? Oh, right. Spiritual." He said, tormented. "Why did you stay if you know? I killed..." he couldn't finish.

"Your sister? I know. That couldn't have been your fault. And why I stayed? You're not the only one running from something, you know. I have nowhere else to go." I told him. He stared at me.

"What could _you_ possibly be running from? What could be worse than what I did?" Leo said; his voice pained.

"Don't matter." I said. Griffy nudged me. I patted his head and climbed on his back. "We should go."

Leo didn't complain, for once. He climbed on behind me, gripping my waist gently. I nudged Griffy.

"Stay above the cloud line. That way we won't be seen." I said to him, glancing up. The sky was covered by thick grey storm clouds. Perfect. "You might want to duck." I told Leo, pressing down against Griffy. Leo leaned against me.

Griffy reached the clouds just in time. Once we were through, the thunder began. I wanted to straighten up, but Leo still leaned against me hard. I let him, not in the mood to argue. Not in the mood to talk. As we flew, the sky brightened. At noon, we landed in a small clearing in middle of the forest. Leo leapt up. I stood slowly and searched the ground for food. In no time at all, I'd found a large patch of clover and rigged some snares around the area. I went back to the clearing, arms full of clover and various other edible plants.

Leo was way ahead of me. His mysterious backpack was out and he was picking out meat, vegetables, two plates and, finally, a barbeque. I had snagged a rabbit on my way back to camp, I threw it to Griffy, who cried with delight and started to eat.

Leo turned at Griffy's cry, drawing his mallet. All I had was the food and some nightshade I'd found. He lowered the hammer and eyed the food suspiciously.

"Where did you find all that?" he asked, genuinely curious.

"Here. It was easy." I chuckled. But I'd forced it. I didn't know if Leo could tell or not, since he turned away and started cooking the meat.

"You act as if you've done this before. Lived in the woods like this." Leo said.

"I have," I answered darkly. He looked at me. I turned away and started to think about what I could make. I suddenly wanted soup. For no apparent reason, I craved soup.

I needed a pot of some kind and heat. Heat was easy; I could make fire using my gift. Suddenly I had an idea. A crazy idea.

I searched under the area we were in. Soon I'd found a lump of metal big enough. It zoomed towards us, and then popped out of the ground in front of me. I made it float and then cut off pieces to form a pot. A bit too late, I realised the metal was platinum, worth a load of money. Oops. That just meant it was not going to be thrown away to me. I didn't care about the metal's worth. I collected some large rocks and made a small stove. I lighted it momentarily, warming it so fire would be unnecessary. Once they were ready I put the pot on top of the stones and turned to Leo.

"Can I have some water, please?" I asked. Luke would strangle me if I didn't use manners. They always kick in at weird moments.

"Sure. What do you need it for?" Leo turned, holding a bottle of water. When he saw the pot and stones, he gasped.

"What are you doing?" he asked his voice low.

"Making soup. What do think I'm doing?" I said. He handed me the water. I poured half of the bottle in to the pot.

I added berries and fruit carefully inspecting each one before putting it into the pot. Blackberries. Raspberries. Apple. Mint. Boiled honeysuckle leaves. I finally added some sweet berries my mother had pointed out to me once. I left it to steam.

Leo had fried some sausages.

"What did you mean about having lived in the forest before?" Leo asked as we ate.

"It's complicated. I don't want to talk about it." I said. Leo frowned. "Don't worry about it. You wouldn't understand. I didn't at the time."

Leo reached for my arm, but stopped.

"The soup's probably ready." I said, standing up, leaving my plate on the ground. "Thanks for the food. It was really good."

The soup was ready. I used some wood from a tree stump to make two bowls. Pouring soup into both bowls, I walked over to Leo. He fished two spoons out of his backpack. I sat down and handed him a bowl. He gave me a spoon. Leo took a bite first. Before he could say anything, I slurped a spoonful. It was really good. Would possibly be better with some cinnamon, but I only had what I could find.

" _Dang girl!_ This is some good soup. I haven't had any good soup since..." he trailed off, pained by some memory. I scooted closer to him and touched his arm tentatively. He drew a deep breath and continued eating his soup. I did the same.

We didn't continue flying that day. Every couple of hours I checked on the snares. I caught a fair amount of meat, all of which I fed to Griffy. For dinner, Leo made some burgers. They were amazing.

"We were careless last night. Maybe we should take watches." I suggested. Leo agreed. "I'll take first watch." I said.

My watch was quiet. Leo snored peacefully. The stars were bright, so I passed time by finding different constellations. I saw Orion and the big dipper. I kept looking and saw a bear. It reminded me of Leo... I couldn't imagine why. I stared some more at the stars and saw a lion. It reminded me of Luke for some reason. A tear fell down my cheek.

"Are you OK?" Leo asked, surprising me. I thought he was asleep.

"I'm fine. Go back to sleep, it's not your watch yet." I said.

"I don't want to go back to sleep. I want to know what's wrong. You're crying." Leo said. I ignored him and kept staring at the lion constellation. At about midnight, I woke Leo, who must have eventually gone back to sleep. He still wanted to know what was wrong. I pretended I didn't know what he was talking about.

I lay down next to Griffy, like the night before. I fell asleep in seconds.

 _In my dream, I was hanging on to the edge of a cliff. Luke stood above me. I pleaded for him to pull me up. Luke just frowned. He raised his foot and stomped down on my hand. I fell._

I opened my eyes slowly, immediately knowing something was wrong. Leo wasn't sitting by the tree. He was gone. I glanced around, not daring to sit up. Men filled the clearing. Towards the edge, there was a huge van. Three men were struggling to hold Leo. He was thrashing as they tied him up. His hands were already bound and they were now binding his arms to his sides. They gagged him and chucked him into the back of the truck.

The men walked over to me. I closed my eyes, hoping they hadn't noticed that I was awake. One bent down and shook my shoulder to wake me up. I acted as if I'd only just wake up. I let out a little screech and tried to rush away, acting as if I was just a little girl, nothing special at all. They grabbed my arms and I went limp. Letting them drag me to their van, I hoped they wouldn't see me as a threat. Two of the men walked off, leaving me in the hands of their college. I let him bind my hands loosely and gag me. I was chucked into the truck. I flinched when the doors slammed shut. Then I easily broke the thin rope holding my hands, and then pulled the gag down so it rested loosely around my neck. There was very little light in the van. Outside I heard Griffy screech and fly off. Good, I didn't want these men getting hold of my gryphon. The truck roared to life and started to move.

I could just about see Leo. I crawled aver to him. He stared at my free hands.

"Got yourself in a tough spot, haven't you?" I whispered. Leo made a sound, a bit like a snort. I started to work on the ropes that bound Leo. The tough roped scraped my fingers, but I didn't stop. After about five minutes, my hands were raw and bleeding, but Leo was untied.

"Whatever you do, do not let these men know that you're a spiritual. You don't want to know what they'll do to you." Leo said. I was trembling. I began to wish Griffy was here. He'd save us. Or Luke. But neither of them were going to save us. I sat near Leo. He pulled me closer.

"What do they want with us?" I asked.

"They're going to sell us. Girls are often sold quicker than boys, so I'm not sure what we can do." Leo replied glumly. I shuddered. We had to get out of there, one way or another. I looked around in the minimal light. I made a small fire on the tip of my index finger. Behind us, a cage held a wolf. But it wasn't a wolf. Its coat was gold and its claws silver. Its eyes were luminous red. It was twice the size of a normal wolf. It was perfect. Leo followed my gaze.

"A metalfang. They're really rare. I'm surprised they found one, let alone captured it." He said. I continue to stare at the metalfang. The cage was sealed by a huge padlock. It's like these men wanted me to take it.

I moved away from Leo. The metalfang watched me closely. I reached my hand through the bars. It stared at my hand warily. I moved slowly. I wasn't scared. Not at all. Leo grabbed my arm suddenly. The metalfang growled.

"Are you mad?! Do you want to lose your hand?" Leo hissed.

"Calm down. I was fine until you barged in. It can help us." I replied acidly. Leo didn't look happy, but he dropped his hand and backed away, his eyes trained on the wolf. I moved back to my original position.

The wolf stopped growling. I reached my hand through the bars again. Humming softly, I gently touched the creature's snout. A contented sound rumbled in her chest. It moved closer to me, pressing its large body against the bars of the cage. I moved closer as well and warmth rushed through my body. I almost gasped. I crawled over to the padlock. I pressed my hand against it and used my powers to open it. The cage door swung open silently. The metalfang leaped up and padded out of the cage. It bent down to let me climb on.

"Leo needs to come as well, is that OK?" I asked the wolf quietly. It walked over to Leo and bent down reluctantly. Leo climbed on, just as reluctant. I almost laughed.

Suddenly the van jolted to a stop.


	9. Chapter 8

The van doors opened. The metalfang jumped right over the men. It landed silently, reminding me of my first jump with Luke. A tear came to my eye. I brushed it away. Leo's hands clamped round my waist, uncomfortably tight. I didn't say anything. As soon as we hit the woods, the wolf charged. It was like flying; the air pushed though my hair, sending adrenalin rushing though me. I let out a whoop. Leo squeezed my waist even tighter.

"I think I'm going to puke." He said. I laughed. I patted the side off the metalfang. It slowed down and stopped at a small clearing, completely shaded by a thick canopy of leaves.

I dismounted, pulling Leo off with me. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he perked up. Letting go of my waist, he pulled out his ever mysterious backpack. I grinned and stroked the metalfang's head, like it was Griffy.

"You need a name." I said, "how about Fluffy?" The wolf growled. "OK then, not Fluffy. Wait, I know! Madison. What do you think?" The wolf wagged its tail excitedly.

"You're naming a metalfang Madison?" Leo asked incredulously.

"She likes it!" I said happily. Madison wagged her tail again. I looked around the small clearing. Yew trees ringed the area. They were perfect for snares. I waited impatiently for Leo to unpack the wire. When he did I set straight to work, tying wire here and there to rig discreet snares. I reached up to tie some wire to a high branch. Suddenly I was lifted into the air. Madison pushed me high enough to tie the snare. I finished the snare, and was high enough to make another two. When I got off, Leo already had my soup pot out.

"Will you make some soup?" He asked. I nodded and went off to find ingredients. I find the blackberries and honeysuckle within seconds. The mint was near a small stream. I gathered some water. I found some raspberries further into the forest. I couldn't find any apples. I hoped Leo could find the spares I collected the day before. I headed back to the clearing

"I found most of the ingredients, but I couldn't find any apples. Do you have the spares from yesterday?" I put the ingredients down and set to work on a small stove, meanwhile, Leo searched through his bag for the apples.

Soon my makeshift stove was ready. I looked at Leo. He handed me some water and a burlap sack of apples. I smiled as I poured the water into my pot. I put all the ingredients—chopped—in and left the soup. I sat down on a tree stump.

"You still haven't answered my question." I said to Leo.

"Which one?" He asked.

"Why did you take me to the temple? I only asked you yesterday." He should remember.

"I did answer that one. I told you, I can't tell you why I took you there."

"Why not?" I asked. It was a fair question. Leo just sighed and got out two spoons and bowls.

I took the bowls and checked on the soup. It was ready. I poured two portions out. I swapped one bowl for a spoon from Leo and sat down on the ground (Leo had stolen my seat). I ate my soup quickly, barley tasting it.

"You won't taste it like that!" Leo said impatiently.

"I want to check the snares. Stop complaining and eat your soup!" I retorted.

Madison helped me up again. All three snares had caught animals. Two squirrels and a small bird. I untangled the dead creatures. Madison lowered me and I jumped down. I waved a squirrel in front of her snout. She grabbed it in her jaw and chewed contently. I left the other animals near her.

Leo had finished his soup and was watching me. I stared back at him.

"What's up? Why are you staring at me like that?" I asked, perplexed. Leo looked away, blushing.

"I like your bracelet." He said, not turning round. Was it an excuse? I looked down at the thin silver circle with a single charm on. An owl charm.

I heard a faint rustle from behind me. Madison growled. Leo jumped up, fumbling for his mallet and my bow.

Something hit my arm. The force sent me flying backwards. Leo looked up. The world started to fade. I heard Leo shout my name before my vision went completely black...

A bright light hurt my eyes when I opened them. My tattered clothes left me cold and shivering.

"Ali? Are you ok?" Anxiety coloured Leo's voice. I looked around. We were in a small holding cell. I was lying on a tiny bed, only just fitting on. Leo looked distraught.

"Whoa. Head rush..." I said dizzily, sitting up. Leo grabbed me before I fell. He laid me back against the hard pillow.

"What happened? Where are we? How long was I out?" I asked.

"Spirit hunters found us. We're at they're headquarters. You've been asleep for two days."

"Spirit... Hunters?"

"They hunt down spirituals and capture them."

"Why am I so dizzy?" I still feel woozy, but I sat up, slower this time.

"They shot you with something." Leo said angrily. "Are you cold?"

I shook my head, still trembling. Leo scooped me up in his arms and took me to a small barred window. Looking out, I could see the gold glint of Madison's fur, hidden in the forests.

"She stayed?" I said, amazed. I had expected her to run off into the woods until we found her again.

"What? Oh Maddy? Wow, I didn't notice her... I meant in the sky. Look." Leo stared at the glint, smiling. I guessed he liked running more than flying. I looked up. Griffy was circling overhead. Good boy!

"We need to get out." I said. Leo set me on the ground and sat down beside me. He wrapped his arm around me and held me against him. I sighed sadly. While we sat there, Leo quizzed me on every little aspect of my life. Favourite colours, pets, family. The thought of Luke almost brought a tear to my eye. Almost.

A startling beep sounded. Leo stopped talking mid-question. He helped me up silently.

"What's going on?" I asked, woozy. The metal bars of the cage lifted up. I was still dizzy.

"Lunch, I think." Leo said. I took an unsteady step. Leo grabbed me before I was even out of the cell. He held my upper arm and gently guided me to a large metal door at the end of the oval room of cells. Kind of obvious place to go, since it was the only way out.

Other people—spirituals—walked through the doors. Most glanced our way. Mainly at me, leaning on Leo.

A petite girl came over to us. She had dark skin and short blond hair, only a bit longer than Leo's.

"Are you ok?" She asked me, her voice a sweet soprano. Leo glared at her. She glared straight back. Her eyes were a lovely golden brown.

"I'm fine." I said. Leo looked down at me. I knew he could tell that I was lying.

"Don't bother lying to me. My power lets me know when I'm being lied to." She said. Interesting. The girl grabbed my arm, helping to support my weight. Leo growled.

"I know who you are." The girl whispered to me. Leo's growling cut off. "Don't worry, I won't tell anybody! I'm Trish by the way." She said louder.

Trish helped me pick the best lunch—a cheese burger and chips—then sat us at a table filled with other spirituals. I tried to put on Trish's power, though I wasn't sure if it had worked. She introduced us to them.

A boy called Ron reminded me of Luke so much it hurt. His messy brown hair kept falling over his sea green eyes, just like Luke when he doesn't brush his hair. There was also Lucy, whose words could influence others. She had startling red hair that matched her fiery attitude. Once I found out about that, I shielded myself more thoroughly. There were no adults there except the guards, who looked at me like I might be a troublemaker. Yeah right. Luke always called me a goody-goody. I never listened to him though.

I looked around our little group. All of us had amazing power. I ate my cheeseburger quickly, eager to be alone. Well, not completely alone.

As soon as we were allowed to go, Leo steered me out at a fast pace. We were back in our cell in less than two minutes. The bars slid down as soon as we were inside. As did all the other cells. Suddenly light flashed through the main room in front of us. I buried my face in Leo's shoulder. He held my head there, not letting me look. I could still hear though. Wild screams of agony ripped though the air, crushing my fear. I struggled against Leo.

"We have to do something!" I shouted at him. Something pressed lightly against my hair, but I was too scared and enraged to care what. I kept trying to pull myself free of Leo's grip. I finally did. I turned to see what was happening.

Chaos. That sums up what I saw. Everything was brightly lit and clear for once and I wasn't dizzy. I rushed to the bars and pressed my palm against them. They disappeared at once. I stepped into the light, shielded against any possible attack. Men in black overalls streamed into the room, grabbing spirituals. Each spiritual strained against their capture, with no success. I scanned the area. Trish hadn't been caught yet, she dashed from side to side, evading all the men. I rushed towards her at super speed. I grabbed her arm and pulled her away. I ran up the wall and left her in a large cell four stories up, only accessible by flight. As far as I knew, the Spirit Hunters used hover shoes. That's what Leo told me.

I ran back to our cell. I stopped in the empty space where the bars should have been. Four men were struggling to restrain Leo. I rushed forwards. Leo saw me and shook his head franticly, his hair hitting the men in the face. I would have laughed if the situation wasn't so dire. One of the men turned to me, grinning.

"You three deal with the boy. I've got a more… delicate job to do." The man said. I shuddered and backed away from him, focused on Leo. I had to free him. I had an idea. I caught Leo's eye first. I gave him an apologetic look. He winked at me. Then he nodded sadly. The men only saw him nod.

The man lunged forwards and grabbed my arm. I struggled feebly, not really trying. He held me close to his body, too close. I was so close I could smell his rotten breath. I gagged, as quietly as I could.

"The Commander promised that whoever caught you, got to guard you. Constantly. I'm so glad the honour is mine." He whispered in my ear. I shuddered again. He pulled me against him harder. Then I struggled properly, desperate to get away from the man. His grip was too strong, but I didn't stop. I eventually broke free. I started to run. The man grabbed my hair and yanked me back. I couldn't stop my scream.

A beastly roar erupted behind me. The man let go of my hair, sending me stumbling backwards. Something growled. I pressed my back against the cold stone wall of the cell.

Leo was gone. Well, not gone. In Leo's place, there was a bear. Kind of. The bear was made up of patches of ice and fire, somehow coexisting together. It was thrice the size of a normal bear, but bigger. It towered above me. I gasped. This bear was Leo. This was his power. This was what he meant about changing.

Roaring again, Leo swiped his huge paw along the ground, knocking down the men. The man who had grabbed me reached into his pocket and pulled out a gun. Leo knocked him to the ground and stomped on his arm. I should have been terrified, but I wasn't. I was only grateful.

Leo charged into the main room, knocking down both men and spirituals. I ran to catch up with him. I couldn't let him hurt anybody. I stopped in front of him. He roared, but didn't swipe at me. That gave me courage.

"Leo, stop. You don't want to hurt anybody, you know it and so do I. Please stop." I said, locking eyes with him. He bent down so we were at eye level. "Please."

Leo stared into my eyes and, slowly, returned to normal. I breathed a sigh of relief.

I ran back to Trish.

"Follow me." I said. I laughed shakily at Trish's incredulous face. I created an ice path. She looked relieved. I slid down the path, the ice chilling my bare lower legs. Trish was right behind me. I stopped in front of Leo.

"You two take Madison, I'll take Griffy?" I suggested. Leo nodded and grabbed Trish's arm. Together we ran out of the building, leaving the mass chaos behind.


	10. Chapter 9

As soon as we were outside, Madison leaped out of the forest. Trish let out a little scream. Leo and I laughed. Griffy soared down, coaxing another scream from Trish. I jumped on to Griffy. Madison bent to allow Leo to climb on. Leo held his hand out to help Trish on.

"It's ok. She's harmless." Leo said, glancing at me. I remembered the first time I saw Madison. She certainly wasn't harmless then.

Trish got on slowly, ignoring Leo's offer to help.

"Warrior clearing?" I asked.

"Ok. Easy enough to find. Go east." He replied.

"Griffy can find it easily, can't you boy?" Griffy snapped at Leo. I laughed, remembering the time he bit Leo. Leo rubbed his nose, scowling. He remembered too.

"See you there." I said and took off. I waited for the Madison to go before heading to the clearing. They went immediately.

For Griffy, it was a 3 hour journey. We landed in the clearing silently, expecting an attack. I was sure we were in the right place. A silver katana lay to one side of the clearing, splattered in dried blood. My blood. I touched the scar on my cheek. I looked down at my clothes. They were ripped and had about a million holes in them. I sighed, wondering absently how far my house was from here. I sat down by a tree at the far edge of the clearing, opposite from where Trish and Leo should come in from. They should only be an hour. My previous sense of dizziness returned. Griffy sat down next to me. I lay my head on his back and closed my eyes…

In my dream, I was hanging off the cliff again. But this time, both Leo and Luke stood above me. They were fighting, Leo with his mallet, Luke with a wicked double sword. I called out for them to stop. I tried to pull myself up. No luck. Leo seemed to be trying not to hurt Luke, Luke was doing his very best to kill Leo. Leo finally whacked Luke upside the head, reluctantly. He ran to me. He helped me up and pulled me into a fierce embrace. At that point I woke up.

The dark sky had no stars visible. I looked around. Leo and Trish were at the edge of the clearing, getting off of Madison. I stood up and waved. As I walked closer, I noticed that Leo was bleeding. I started to run.

Leo was pale and weak from blood loss. He leaned on Madison, who walked slowly to the tree I had slept under. Griffy woke up when I helped Leo sit down.

"Trish, what happened?" I said, examining the foot long slash on Leo's arm.

"Some of the Zian warriors caught up with us." She said, breathless.

"Zian?" I asked.

"The men that attacked us here before. They wouldn't come any closer to the clearing, though." Leo said, his voice strained and cracked. I told him not to talk.

"Trish, can you take care of Leo for a while. I'll go find some bandages and some new clothes. For all of us." I said unwillingly. I didn't want to leave them here, unprotected, but Leo needed bandages and medicine, badly. And we all needed new clothes. Leo's jeans were ripped in several places and his top was too small. He would probably fit into Luke's clothes, I thought. Trish's clothes consisted of a ripped red dress. She would defiantly fit into some of mine.

"We'll be fine. Madison will protect us." Trish said, patting Madison, who had lay down next to her. They seemed to like each other. I got on Griffy and took to the air, silent.

"Go up high. We need to go back to my house." I said quietly to Griffy. He flew high into the night sky.

When we landed in the garden, I heard a voice coming from Luke's room. Had he gone home?

I steered Griffy to my window. He hovered there as I climbed into my room. I scanned it. Nothing had moved. Or so I thought. Then I noticed the photo. It was a picture of me and Luke when we were little. It brought a tear to my eye, which I ignored.

I grabbed a small bag. I opened my draw and packed several pairs of leggings and jeans. Many different tops. Somehow they all fit in. Then I changed into a pair of jeans and a turquoise striped top. I put on an old pair of boots and headed to the bathroom.

I had to go though four cabinets before I found the medical bag. I shoved it into my bag, which felt surprisingly light. I looked down at it. Inside, I could clearly see everything I packed, easily fitting in. Magical bag. Ok then. I also grabbed some painkillers.

I paused outside Luke's room. I knocked lightly. The door opened immediately. Luke stared at me for a second, and then pulled me into a tight hug. I couldn't breathe. This was a complication. With him distracted by my arrival, I used my powers to pick out some jeans and tops for Leo. They looked about the right size. They folded themselves and landed in my bag. I shut it silently.

"What happened to you?" Luke said against my hair, still not letting me go. I didn't know what to say.

"Luke, I have to go. Please, let go…" I said. It hurt to say it.

Luke didn't understand at first.

"You aren't going anywhere without me." he said, tenacious.

"Griffy wouldn't be able to take your weight. You can't Luke. You just can't." I said. Griffy wasn't really an excuse, but I had to go. I pulled myself free. "Bye." I disappeared, invisible to Luke. I ran back to my room and flung open. Reappearing for Griffy, I climbed out, landing gently on his back. Luke appeared in the doorway, gaping.

"I'm so, so, so sorry Luke. Bye. I'll see you again. I promise." With that Griffy flew into the clouds, leaving my bother standing awestruck in my doorway.

I landed in the clearing carefully. Trish was sitting next to Madison, still stroking her head, humming. Leo looked worse. I ran to him. Opening my bag, I found the medical kit an opened it. I took out bandages, anti-inflammatory, an anti-infection ointment, some water and a pair of scissors. I cut a bit off the bandage and soaked in water. I cleaned the wound as gently as I could, but Leo still flinched every time I touched the soaking bandage to the cut. When I was done, I applied a fair amount of ointment. I wrapped the wound in bandages, making sure they would pad it. I grabbed the pain killers out of my bag and gave Leo a dose.

"How much do you have in that tiny bag?!" Leo moaned. I grinned. Then the smile disappeared.

"We should go. I know a place we might be able to stay. Leo, you take Griffy, he'll follow me and Trish on Madison. Ok?" Leo nodded. I thought for a second. Then I dug into my bag and pulled out some belts. I tied them together to form a makeshift rope. I walked over to Griffy and tied it round his chest. Then wrapped it round his neck. I tied an extra two belts on. Leo came over to see what I was doing.

"Get on." I commanded. Leo listened without complaining. I tied the belts round his waist, barely thinking, then used another belt to make a sort of sash to keep him on Griffy securely if his arm starts to hurt again.

I walked over to Trish and Madison, who jumped up. I mounted Madison before she had the chance bend down. Trish jumped on when the metalfang bent for her. She held onto my waist as Madison ran into the forest at full speed.

We reached the cottage in no time at all. I guess we weren't as far as I thought. Trish was asleep behind me. I gently got off, waking her. She stared in awe at the trees twining together to form the cottage. I walked over to Griffy and removed the belt rope, stuffing into my bag. Leo smiled as I helped him off. He looked a lot better. He looked at the cottage and frowned.

"Are you sure it's safe?" he asked anxiously. I smile, remembering all the spirituals here. Safe! What an understatement.

"Depends on what you consider safe." I said; just to be annoying. I walked straight to the door and rapped lightly. The doors swung open to reveal Lottie, flanked by Stephanie and Whitney. Lottie was grinning. The girls started grinning when they saw me. They pulled me into a group hug.

"Luke has been worried sick, you silly thing!" Lottie said with mock anger.

"Well, I've been very busy. Got attacked by the Zian, captured twice, and knocked unconscious I don't know how long!" I grimaced. Lottie released me.

"Well it looks like you need a place to stay." She said. I smiled. She looked behind me at my friend and the animals. She grinned when she saw Madison. "A metalfang! However did you find one?"

"I'll tell you inside. Oh! Do you have any healers here?" I asked. I looked back at Leo. He stepped forward and grabbed my arm.

"You don't have to do that." He whispered.

"Yes I do. I need you Leo. You may not like it, but I do." I whispered back. A slow smile spread on his lips. He stepped back, still smiling.

"Of course we have healers here!" Lottie said, looking back and forth between me and Leo, trying to figure out what our little exchange was about.

Lottie pulled us in to her huge house. My friends gaped.

"Lottie, where can I leave Griffy and Madison? The animals." I asked. Lottie looked at Madison and Griffy. Whitney said she'd take them to the stables and walked out, using some meat to get the animals to follow her. They both paused at the door and looked back at me. I smiled and gestured for them to follow Whitney. They did. But it was still nice to know that they did actually care.

Lottie led us up a flight of stairs to a corridor with at least twenty rooms coming off. Dormitories for the kids. She led us to one at the end. She opened the door to reveal a lounge. Three sofas grouped together near a TV. Another one of Lottie's amazing space tricks. Two doors led off to bedrooms, both painted a light blue. In one room there was a single bed and small wardrobe. A single door was at the back, probably leading to a bathroom. Obviously for Leo. He sat down on the bed and smiled at me. I grinned back. We left him alone. In the other room there was a bunk bed, a large wardrobe and a door that led to a large bathroom.

"Do you treat all guests like this, or are we special?" I teased, genuinely curious under the mocking.

"Of course you're special, but I treat all guests the same. I saw your arrival." Lottie piped. Trish looked confused. I told her about Lottie's power. Lottie told us to ask if we needed anything. I thanked her. She left us alone.

I gave Trish a pair of jeans and a baggy red top. There were some trainers in the wardrobe. I left her to change. I went to Leo's room. He had left the door open.

I walked straight in. Leo was sitting on the bed still, eyes closed, thinking. I sat down next to him. He opened his eyes, smiling. I smiled at him. I pull out my bag and find the clothes I brought him. He took them, still smiling.

"Where did you get these?" he asked.

"I went home." I said quietly. Leo wrapped my in a fierce hug, reminding me of my dream. I wanted to tell him about it, but I stopped myself. I don't know why, but I felt that everything would be better if I didn't tell him. I should talk to Lottie about it, I thought. If anybody would understand, it would be Lottie.

Leo let me go and looked at me. He searched my face meticulously. I didn't know why I found myself holding my breath. When he smiled, I couldn't help smile back.

Leo started quizzing me again. He wanted to know about every insignificant thing in my life. Eventually Trish came and joined us. She asked any questions he forgot. Then we started quizzing her. Then it was Leo's turn. It was fun. Eventually, Leo and Trish fell asleep. I picked Trish up with my powers and took her to our room, leaving her on the top bunk. Then I went back to sort out Leo. I picked him up with my mind and sorted the bed out with my hands. I tucked Leo in with my powers and went back to my room, turning lights off and closing doors as I went. I passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow.

In my dream, I was in a hall full of strangers, all wearing party clothes. They wandered around. I saw Leo. I made my way through the crowd, desperate to see a familiar face. When I got there, it wasn't Leo. Then Trish came up to me. She steered me through crowds, trying to get out. I didn't understand why at first. Then I noticed that everybody's eyes glowed red. I ran to the nearest window, pulling Trish with me. I looked down. I could see the ground, ten feet below us. I made an ice path to the ground. When I reached the ground, instead of grass, there were silver blades that swarm my feet, slicing. I cried out as I woke up.

I was still in the bed. Still at Lottie's. Still safe.

Trish was sitting at the end of my bed.

"Are you ok? You were thrashing and mumbling. Bad dream?" I was thrashing? Sleep talking? I wondered how Trish knew I had a bad dream. Maybe she got them too. I had just sat up when Leo burst into the room, wearing a pair of baggy jeans and Luke's Chris Brown top.

"Up, up, up, ladies! Breakfast in ten minutes!" Leo said in a singsong voice. His singing was even worse than Luke's! I couldn't help but laugh, despite the chill the dream had given me.

I stood up and shooed Leo away so we could get dressed. I changed into an outfit almost identical to what I wore the previous day, only with white jeans and a beige jacket on over the top. Trish changed into a pair of leggings and an orange top with a witch on it. It was really meant for Halloween, but I hadn't been paying too much attention when I packed this stuff. I shoved my feet back into my boots.

Leo was waiting impatiently outside our door.

"Come on! Apparently it's waffle day! I want to have a waffle!" he complained. I waved my hand at his shirt. The picture changed until it said 'I love WAFFLES!" in huge letters. A picture of a waffle appeared below it. Trish laughed at the new design. Leo just scowled.

When we reached the main hall, Leo perked up. Tables were dotted everywhere. In the centre of the room, there was a serving table, holding only waffles and various toppings. Not what I'd expected. I looked at Trish, who stood in the doorway, dumbfounded. I pulled her along to the middle table. She had calmed down enough to serve herself. I had to drag Leo away from the chocolate syrups before anything bad happened. We settled ourselves at a table.

After a few minutes, we were surrounded by friends. Jay laughed as Leo shovelled two waffles into his mouth at once. Then he noticed Leo's shirt.

"Ali, did you do that? The pattern on his shirt?" Jay asked, amazed. I nodded, not used to having so much attention. Several times I had to remind myself that I could trust these people.

Lottie came over to me.

"Ali, Luke's here. I can stall him, if you don't want to see him." Lottie said quietly to me.

"Don't bother. He's my brother. He deserves the chance to say goodbye." I said back.

"You're leaving?" she said, pouting.

"Not yet, but soon. I've got a job to do." I looked at Leo. Lottie followed my gaze and nodded, running off to talk to Luke.

I ate the rest of my waffles. Luke came in just as I finished. He scanned the room. He saw me and looked away quickly. I couldn't leave like this. Not with Luke so sad. I stood up, excusing myself with a quick pretence about needing the loo. Trish made the same excuse and followed me. I ignored her.

Luke hadn't sat down; he was still standing in the doorway.

"Luke? Luke, I'm sorry. I couldn't stay at home. You don't understand. Please let me explain…" I said, the words gushing from my mouth before I could stop them. Trish was standing behind me; hand on my arm, as if she was afraid of Luke.

"Ali, this isn't your fault. But can you please come home? Please. Mum and Dad are worried sick. They have the police looking for you." He said pain in his voice. Trish let out a low hiss when he said that Mum and Dad were worried. Was Luke lying? What would Mum and Dad think? They would probably think I was at a sleep over with my friends and forgot to tell them. I'd done it before. Maybe Luke was lying. I decided to trust Trish.

"Don't lie to me. And I can't come home. I've got something to do. Something really important. I can't just leave." I said. Trish smiled at me and I smiled back. Luke looked back and forth at me and Trish. Then he sighed.

"I shouldn't expect any less from you, sis. You're a lot like me…" he trailed off. Trish smiled knowingly. What did she know?

I smiled at Luke. He grinned back.

"Just be careful," he paused for a moment, "we wouldn't want Baby Ali getting hurt." His grin widened. I sighed. Luke walked to our table and sat down, joining the conversation. Trish and I joined him, sitting on either side of Leo.

The conversation was about the Zian and Spirit Hunters. Trish had loads of information about they were doing. Apparently, the Zian and Spirit Hunters were working together. The Zian would capture. The Spirit Hunters used the most powerful spirituals to make weapons and facilities to make more. I shuddered at the thought. What would have happened if the Spirit Hunters found out who I was? I tried not to think about it.

Luke turned white when he found out about our encounters with the Zian and Spirit Hunters. Leo had to tell him everything twice. I didn't say much, but I did add in any details Leo forgot, or didn't know about. For example, he didn't know that my plan was set before the men even 'woke me up'. The others seemed impressed that we had survived on our own. Both Luke and I frowned when Leo brought up my comment about living in the woods before. We both remembered it too well. The huge fight, the wolves. I shuddered.

After breakfast, Jay and I cleared all the tables away with our powers. Now I was going to have some fun. Leo was going to be working with a teenage boy called Brennan to help him only change when he wants to. I hoped it would work. Trish went off with a young girl called Lizzy who claimed she could adapt Trish's power so she could see the truth behind the lie she was being told. So the lessons started where they left off.

I decided to steer clear of offensive powers. After all, many powers could be used in battle. I went off to enhance my fire skills. It was fun. I learnt loads of hot new tricks.

Next on the agenda was walking through walls. It was easy. So was everything else I tried. Suddenly, I had an idea.

When I was young, my imagination worked overtime. The smallest thing would send my brain reeling into action. One time, I had imagined what it would be like to be able to make a drawing come to life. I grabbed a pencil from a table nearby—Lottie loved to draw—and started.

The lines looked like nothing at first, but soon began to take form. Soon the baby phoenix was finished. I took a step back and admired my work. People had formed a crowd behind me while I was drawing. I pressed my hand against the flat wall I had drawn on, hoping. I closed my eyes…


	11. Chapter 10

The flames blazed for less than a second. When I opened my eyes, I was astounded by the majesty of the creature standing before my eyes. The bright reds, oranges and yellows contrasted perfectly to make the creature more wonderful. The baby phoenix blinked its amber eyes.

I smiled. Gasps of astonishment filled the hall. I bent down slowly and placed my hand on the phoenix's head. It nibbled my fingers affectionately. I sighed. The phoenix looked around, seeming to enjoy the spotlight. It opened its delicate wings.

And took flight.

It looked like a shooting star, right in front of our eyes. Trish—who had moved to stand next to me—gave a little cry of excitement, echoed by Lottie. I decided right then to leave the phoenix with Lottie. As a gift. I had a feeling we wouldn't see each other for a while. When the chick landed in front of Lottie, I smiled. The phoenix would love it here. We had to leave that night. Had to. I couldn't bear to put the school in danger. Lottie would understand.

But I was worried about Luke.

Lessons stopped there. It was a Saturday, so there were no lessons after noon. The hall was left as a social area. You were free to do what you wanted. At that moment, I wanted nothing more than a private moment to clear my head. I wasn't the only one.

When I came into our dorm, Leo was already there, lounging on one of the arm chairs. I plopped down next to him.

"Why aren't you down stairs with your _friends_?" he asked acidly. What was wrong with him? I flinched at his words. He glared ahead, barely acknowledging my existence.

"What do you mean?" I whispered, coy. Leo looked at me, his eyes softening.

"I honestly don't know." He said finally. That made even less sense. I smiled slightly. Only slightly.

"Same here. Came here to clear my head. Now my head is more confused." I said, words gushing out of my mouth. Leo smiled. The smile slowly lit up his whole face. I couldn't help but smile too. This was nice. It felt oddly…normal. Like I was just sitting in my house with a nice boy from school. Any moment now, Luke would burst through the doors and embarrass me so much that I would only meet the boy in my secret places. Like the hollow yew tree. Or the shallow well by the lake. At least I knew where we would be camping next.

Leo nodded, seeming to understand how I felt.

"We need to leave soon, you know." I said. He nodded again. He knew what was coming next.

"Don't worry. I understand. You've got to go home." He said resentfully. What?

"Not what I was going to say. The complete opposite if I say so myself." I said. He stared at me. "I'm not going anywhere Leo. Not without you." I felt weird saying that. I didn't know why, but I did. I stood and went to Trish and my room. Plopping down on the bed, I scanned the room's contents. I grabbed as much as I could and shoved it into my tiny magic bag. Everything fit. I took out the medical kit and went to check on Leo.

Leo was in his room, also packing. The door was wide open so I came right in and sat down on the bed while he rushed around frantically. I could only imagine what all this work would do to his arm.

"Leo, you're going to reopen your cut if you keep rushing around like that." I said, impatient. Leo turned, startled.

"Oh. I didn't notice you were there." He said, setting down his backpack. He sat down, putting his head in his hands.

"Let me check your cut. You don't want it getting worse." I said quietly. Leo looked up and took off his top so I could see the bandages.

They had soaked through. I gently unwound them. The wound was worse. It had scabbed over, but there was obviously pus trapped underneath. Great. The last thing we needed was for the wound to be infected. Or worse poisoned. I tried something new. I touched Leo's arm, focusing. Leo gasped. I closed my eyes, concentrating harder. This had to work.

"I can't feel my arm…" he said softly. He sounded… happy. I wondered if it really hurt enough for numbness to make him happy. I told him to look away. He obeyed silently, staring at my face. I steeled myself and dug my fingers into the clotted wound. The pus flowed at an alarming rate, truing the blood a sickening orange. I wiped it away as fast as I could, but no matter how fast I was, new pus always managed to replace the old pus as quickly as I could wipe it up. The whole time Leo's eyes were trained on my face.

When the blood finally flowed clean, I cleaned it once more to be sure the gash would not get re-infected. I wound new bandages tightly around it, carful not let my concentration slip. I didn't want to put Leo through any more pain than necessary. Then I gathered up the medical kit, finally letting the numbness fade from Leo's arm. He winced as soon as I did. I stuffed the medical kit into my bag, which had flown into the room on its own. Cool. I looked out of a small window. Darkness filled the night sky, blemished by the bright light of stars. There was a new, brighter star that I had never noticed before then. It was far away, and seemed to call me. Trick? I didn't think so. I grabbed Leo's uninjured arm.

"Get ready. We're leaving soon. I'm gonna go get Trish." I said, dropping my hand and standing up. Leo looked at me as if I was crazy.

"I don't want to have to say goodbye to Luke again. If we leave now, we can reach a safe place by noon." I said; my voice was a blank monotone. Leo nodded and started packing again, slower this time. I walked off to find Trish.

Trish was with Madison. Maddy was lying down in the hall, content as Trish stroked her huge head. I felt almost guilty, disturbing them. I made up my mind then. Trish could stay, if she wanted to. Madison would too. I sat down next to them.

"We're leaving." I said. Trish looked at me understandingly and stood up. Maddy rose, bending to Trish climb on. "You don't have to come. You can stay here, Trish, with Lottie and Madison. You'd be safe." She shook her head, determined. I sighed and headed through a small door at the back of the hall.

Lottie was in the stables, hand feeding the phoenix. She looked up when I came in.

"You're leaving." She said, stating, not asking. I nodded.

"Have you named him yet? The phoenix? He's yours." I sighed, opening the door to Griffy's pen. He jumped up excitedly. I opened my bag, hoping to find something for him to eat.

A piece of chicken shot into my hand. Cool. Super magical bag. I chucked the chicken to Griffy who ate it in a single gulp. I laughed at him.

Lottie smiled.

"I think I'll name this little guy… Blaze. Do you like that name?" the last part was for the phoenix, which soared happily around the room. Griffy squawked and stretched his wings. I laughed at the animals. Oblivious animals. Must be nice to not to have to worry about ancient prophecies, Spirit Hunters, the Zian, and everything else that started on my birthday… could it have only been a week ago? Wow. One crazy week. None of it seemed real. Like a clip from a movie.

"Are you sure you have to go?" Lottie asked, sighing. I nodded. I couldn't stay here. I needed help Leo and Trish. I couldn't just leave them, not now.

"I'll be back soon enough." I said, for Luke's benefit. Then I turned and walked out, Griffy at my heels.

Leo grimaced at Griffy. I laughed.

"You can ride on Madison if you want." I said, smiling. Then my smile disappeared. No time to mess about, I scolded myself. I jumped on to Griffy.

"Madison, follow me." I said as Leo and Trish climbed on. Madison whimpered quietly. "I'll be fine girl, so will you. I won't be far."

Griffy took to the sky.

"Not so fast!" I shouted, loud enough for Griffy to hear over the roaring wind. He slowed, gliding slowly through the warm air. I let go of his feathers. This was nice. Calm. Griffy flew slowly, following my directions. Every now and then, I'd see the glint of Maddy's fur. Hopefully, we'd reach the lake by dawn.

The sun dawned in amazing shades of pink and orange. Below us, I could see the shimmering water of Lilly Lake. Griffy fell forwards in a nose dive. We landed without a sound. I hopped off and walked to the shoreline. The water lapped calmly against the rocky bank I'd formed years ago to prevent the lake from flooding. I pulled my feet out of my boots and rolled up my jeans. I'd just stepped into the water when Leo and Trish burst into the clearing, asleep on Madison's back. I laughed and stepped back over the barrier, slipping my feet back into my boots.

When I reached Madison, Leo sprung up, wielding his mallet. His blond hair was a mess and his top crumpled. All in all, he looked fairly bedraggled. I giggled. He looked ridiculous with a weapon. Leo grinned at me. I had to grin back. He looked behind me, at the soft pink water behind us. I turned around and walked back to the lake. I opened my bag, wishing I had a bottle to fill up with the water. Suddenly, a bottle shot into my hand. Wow. I loved that bag. I filled the bottle and put it back into my bag. Then I grinned. I looked down at myself. I was filthy. My hair was greasy and hung around me in a knotted mess.

I took off my jeans and jacket, leaving on my underwear and top. I stepped over the rock boundary.

"What are you doing?!" Leo yelled across the clearing, but he was too late. I broke into a run. I dove into the cool water. I heard a faint splash behind me. I turned around in the water, not surfacing yet. Trish was swimming towards me, grinning from ear to ear. My feet touched the familiar rocky bottom of the lake. I pushed off, surfacing with a whoop. Leo stood on the shore, hesitating. I ducked down into the water again, swimming silently towards him. I didn't resurface until I was right in front of him. Leo was scanning the lake anxiously. My feet touched the gravelly bed as I sprang out of the water. Leo flinched and stumbled back a few steps. Then he grinned.

"I'll get you for that!" he laughed, smiling like an evil maniac.

"You'll have to catch me first!" I grinned back, pushing off again. Leo ran into the water without bothering to take his clothes off. He swam after me. I did a trick Luke taught me. I waited for him to get close enough to me… SLASH! I landed on the other side of him, diving into the cool water. I swam right to the bottom of the lake and used the gravely bottom as a floor to walk across. I surfaced at the edge of the water, still laughing. Leo spotted me and put on a mock scowl. I couldn't stop laughing.

Then I heard the gunshot.

I dived into the water and swam to the middle. Leo and Trish copied. Time to try some new powers. I sank to the bottom of the lake. Leo dived down anxiously. I waved him away. Cautiously, I sucked in a breath, half expecting this to fail. Water rushed through my windpipe, straight to my lungs. Somehow, I wasn't choking. The power worked. I waved my hand. A bubble of air surrounded me. It was clean and pure. I shot to the surface. Madison had jumped into the water and was struggling to swim. I pulled up a section of the gravel bed for her to stand on. She climbed on to it gratefully. Griffy circled above us. This wasn't going to work. I tried another new power.

 _Dive down to the bottom of the lake. I'll follow you._ I thought, hoping it would work. Trish and Leo looked around, surprised. Trish was the first to understand. She looked at me and nodded, diving down, dragging Leo with her. Leo just had enough time to shoot me a dark look before he was completely submerged in the still pink waters of Lily Lake. I dove in to join them. I waved my hand in a movement identical to the one I did only thirty seconds ago. Air surrounded us instantly. Madison's gravel island sank to us, joining our air bubble. Trish had to tell her several times to sit before she was clam enough to listened. I explained my plan to them.

"You guys are going to stay here. I know it's boring but you have to. I'm going to go out into the open…" I trailed off. Leo appraised my outfit. I elbowed him in the gut. "Not like this! I'll change quickly. If these people come into the clearing while I'm still changing, it will be fine. It'll look like I've just had a swim… Anyway, I can find out what's going on. Plus, Griffy can help me. You guys don't know what trick Whitney taught me, do you?" I smiled. Whitney was the best! Two amazing tricks that have already come in handy… I'd have to give her a present next time I see her.

Leo didn't like the plan, but agreed it was our best chance. I kicked off to the surface. I swam quickly to the edge, and silently thanked my old PE teacher, who had always given us two minutes precisely to change after our swimming lessons. Those lessons were really going to pay off. I changed quicker than I had then, wiping the moister off my body with one wave of my hand. I really needed to learn how to change my clothes in one second with my powers. _That_ would be cool. I changed quickly and carefully and had only just shoved my feet into my boots when a person appeared. It was a tall woman, about 6'7''. She was dressed in back and had a sword hanging from her side. _Honestly!_ How did we not know about these people running through the forest? She held a silver handgun but was pointing it back into the forest. She spun round to face me, automatically aiming. She relaxed as she looked me over, but didn't lower the gun.

"Who are you?" She said in a booming voice. I trembled visibly, playing it up a bit. I couldn't let anybody know who I was. I quickly came up with a story.

"I…I'm T…Tara. Tara Billingsworth." I said my voice trembling. I knew those acting classes from last year would pay off! Tara Billingsworth? Wasn't that my character in our school's modern take on 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'?

The woman relaxed further, lowering the gun. She appraised me with a sharp eye.

"Spiritual." She murmured. "Powerful… hmm. She shall do." She continued. Do for what? Oh great. I stumbled back, my heels banging against the rock boundary. At least I didn't have to pretend I'm scared anymore. I had to say something. The woman took a few steps closer to me, very slowly.

"What do you want from me?" I asked; my was voice faint and trembling. The woman kept advancing, silent. I wanted to run, but I couldn't leave Leo and Trish behind with this woman. I'd have to go with her. My heart thundered as I made my decision.

"I am Sakuri. You will come with me." she said calmly, grasping my arm. I don't bother struggling. Sakuri smiled. She started walking

I was dragged off by Sakuri. I didn't turn at Leo's shout. Instead, I carefully slipped my bracelet and dropped it to the ground. I only hoped Leo would recognise it…

We walked for hours. We stopped when the sun was directly above us. My powers told me was had travelled 17 miles due east. We weren't far from my old friend, Zoe's house. In fact, I could probably reach her in five minutes, without powers. Sakuri looked over the trees in search of food. I open the bag strapped round my waist, wishing I had something decent to eat. A burger appeared in my hand. It smelled exactly like the one Leo had made… I sighed. I took a hesitant bite. It tasted like one of Leo's too. I continued to eat it, enjoying the familiar taste. I sighed again when I finished.

I heard a rustling behind me.

 _Leo?_ I thought, hoping only he would hear my thoughts. The rustling stopped. I stood up silently. I opened my bag again and a dagger shot straight into my hand. Sakuri didn't notice my muffled footsteps. A hand shot out of the bush quickly and dropped my bracelet at my feet. Leo. I smiled to myself and grabbed the bracelet, replacing it with my dagger. The hand reached out slowly this time, and pushed the dagger towards me. I didn't take it. Soon enough Sakuri was dragging me off. I still didn't know where we were going. I eventually began to regret leaving the dagger. I only hoped we would reach our destination soon.

When we reached the end of the forest—48 miles from Lilly Lake— the sun has set. We continued on for another half mile. Ahead of us was a dull white house with no windows. A black door seemed to be the only entrance. Sakuri walked straight to the door and rapped ob the door in a strange rhythm. A code. The door opened and I was dragged inside. The door slammed shut behind us.

Inside the house was surprisingly bright. A man greeted Sakuri warmly, and then turned to face me. A warm smile almost split his face in two. He had silvery hair, although he was obviously no older than 25. His sapphire eyes sparkled merrily. Something about him bothered me.

"Master will like her…" he said happily, looking approvingly at Sakuri. Master? I didn't like the sound of that. Sakuri nodded.

"Thank you, Cane." She replied. Cane took my arm and led me down the corridor. Sakuri didn't follow. She called after Cane.

"Her name is Tara, or so she says. It's fake though." She called. Cane kept moving.

I trembled with fear as we walked down the seemingly never-ending hall. Was it just me or was this hall to long to fit how big the house was on the outside? More magic? This was really getting on my nerves.

Cane led me to the end of the corridor. He opened a crimson door on the left and pulled me through.

Inside all the furnisher were various shades of green. The walls were painted gold with green flowers painted on. The carpet was the same shade of gold. A man sat in a green arm chair across from us, facing the opposite direction. Cane was the first to speak.

"Master, Sakuri has brought another spiritual. We don't know her name though." He said, addressing the man in the armchair. The man stood up and turned to us. If you could call a eighteen year old a man. But boy just didn't describe the figure before me. He had dark windblown hair and bright green eyes, like a tiger. He was very handsome, but for some reason he scared me more than anything I had seen in the last week or so. He looked me up and down carefully.

"She is perfect." He said shortly. Perfect for what? His voice, although pleasant, sent shivers down my spine. Who was he? And, more importantly, what did he want from me?

Cane smiled at his master's words and left the room with a low bow. I felt even more scared (is that even possible?) when he was gone.

The man took a step towards me and I took an involuntary step back. The man kept advancing until we were only a foot apart.

"What is your name?" he asked in a soothing voice, but I wasn't soothed. Somehow, I knew that if I lied to this man, he would know, a bit like Trish. The thought of Trish made my heart hurt. Poor Trish. Poor Leo.

"A—Ali." I said quietly, my voice quivering badly. The man smiled at me. It was a kind smile. I was still scared though.

"Ali…" he said, quietly. "What a lovely name. I'm Peter. It's a pleasure to meet you." He held his hand out to me. I didn't take it. Instead, I took another step back and found myself flat against the wall. Peter laughed.

"What's wrong? Are you scared?" he sneered. He took another step towards me. "Spirituals are all the same. Scared, pathetic girls…" he trailed off.

Thundering, angry footsteps headed down the hall. Peter smiled.

"You brought friends!" he said happily, closing the distance between us. He placed his hands on either sides of my head, preventing escape.

"You're the only one who hasn't fainted yet. You'll make a great wife…" he leaned his head towards me, slowly.

Suddenly the door slammed down on the floor and somebody entered.


	12. Chapter 11

Leo stood on the broken red door, glaring at Peter with seething rage. Peter didn't even turn. That made Leo even angrier. He strode forwards and yanked Peter away from me by the collar. I sank to the floor gratefully. Peter laughed at Leo. Leo's fist shot out faster than I could see. Peter wobbled back, clutching his eye, smile gone.

My vision started to blur before my eyes as they fought, and I slipped gladly into the calm, forgiving arms of unconsciousness.

I woke in a court of murmuring voices. Leo, Trish and Peter were nowhere to be seen. Was this a dream? A shout brought the court to order. I stood on a raised platform, obviously acting as the culprit. A kind faced judge sat above my in a box of sorts that rose far above me.

"You are the next Chosen." He stated. Then I understood. This wasn't a court. These were my ancestors, or so I thought. Wait, did he say next? I thought there was only one. By Chosen, surly he means the one in the prophesy, right?

"Who are you? All of you?" I asked, confused. The man looked at me pity. What did I say?

"We are the past Chosen. All of us… have failed." He said calmly. "I am Walter. Sir Walter Raleigh." What? THE Walter Raleigh? The man who was thought to have been the first to find America? This was getting strange.

"Failed at what?" I asked, still shocked, but not wanting to seem rude. Raleigh's face grew dark.

"Our task. Your task. You must find the Golden Cure." He said, still calm. Golden Cure? That sounded dangerous to me. "There is a riddle about how to find it. I was after the Golden Cure when I found America, you know. Anyway, the riddle is this:

 _'_ _Angel fire you must endure,_

 _To find the blessed Golden Cure._

 _Which lights the way to the first prevail,_

 _And puts the Chosen on the right trail.'_

"nobody has ever been able to decipher the riddle."

With those words, the dream faded away.

The ringing in my ears made a horrible crescendo. I tried to open my eyes in vain. As if somebody was turning up the frequency on a radio, I could start to hear voices penetrate the painful ringing.

"I think she's waking up." Said Trish's voice, reassuring somebody. "I told you it was true! You can't even accept your own feelings."

The ringing was worse when Trish stopped talking.

"Urrgh!" I groaned. I felt a hand touch my cheek. I tried once again to open my eyes, with no success. The ringing in my ears was doing a slow diminuendo. I sighed with relief. The hand on my cheek disappeared. My eyes opened just as the ringing stopped completely. A face was hovering over me.

Leo had dark circles under his purple eyes and his hair was a tangled mess, it reached down low enough to just touch my cheek. It tickled. Leo peered anxiously down at me. Above him I could see the dark night sky, dotted with the silvery lights of stars. I seemed to be lying on a sleeping bag. There was a bandage wrapped tightly around my head.

Suddenly Leo disappeared from above me, pushed to the side. Trish took his place, giving me some space though. She placed her hand carefully behind my shoulders, grinning. She helped me sit up.

"What did I tell you Leo? Nothing to worry about. Ali will be fine!" I didn't say anything. My head span frantically to recall the events that brought me here. I couldn't remember anything past meeting Peter… it hit me. I remembered noting, except Leo's rage at peter. How did I get here?

I stood up too quickly. Griffy rushed to my side and supported me. I leaned heavily on him. Leo wound his arm round my waist to help. He draped my arm over his shoulder and lifted me away from Griffy effortlessly.

He set me down against a tree stump, then plopped himself down next to me. He stared at me… silence filled the clearing, even Griffy and Madison were quiet. I was the first to break the silence.

"I need to go…" I said, remembering the riddle. I murmured it under my breath. "Angel fire you must endure, to find the blessed Golden Cure. Which lights the way to the first prevail, and puts the Chosen on the right trail…"

Trish looked at me for a second. WAIT! My brother once told me that the Northern Lights were made of the fiery blood of angels…could the riddle be referencing to that?

I stood up. Leo stood up at the same time, arms out to catch me. But I didn't fall. I dodged past his arms and made my way across the clearing, searching. If I have to see the Northern Lights, then maybe a trip to Alaska would help. I lit my finger, so a fire, only the size of a birthday candle, appeared. I used the fire to draw. I drew on a particularly large spruce tree, an arched door to Alaska. It appeared there on the tree. Leo came up behind me. Trish stood next to me. I opened the door experimentally. A blast of cold air hit me like a brick. I stumbled a bit but regained my balance in seconds.

I peered through the door. There was the little abandoned log cabin me and Luke had found on our family trip to Alaska. We had ran off every day when our parents wanted to go to some boring Natural History museum to this little cabin. Hopefully all the firewood we had collected was still there.

Without a moment's hesitation, I ran through the door to the cosy little cabin.

23\. Northern Fire

Instantly the cold air swirled around me and my feet crunched against the snow. I smiled and twirled in a circle. Then I saw Leo and Trish on the other side of the door. They looked scared. I walked back to them and took Leo's hand. Warmth immediately seeped into my body. I pulled him through the door. He winced as the air surrounded him. He shivered uncontrollably.

"Come on! It's warm in the cabin." I said. I looked back at Trish. "Come on Trish!" Trish took an uneasy step through the door and smiled. I ran round the house to the door. I let go of Leo's hand for a moment to grab the key from the inside of a hidden cupboard in the wooden foundations of the house and unlock the door. We walked in quietly. I smiled at how little my surrounding had changed since the last day me and Luke were here. Nobody spoke so I went straight to a cupboard and took out several blankets and some firewood. After I lit a fire, we all gathered together.

"Why are we here?" Leo asked. Yes, why were we there?

"When I… passed out, I had this dream. There's something I have to do. Something important, I think." I said quietly. I was too scared to continue. How am I, a scrawny little girl, going to find this Golden Cure, when so many people, who were all so much stronger than me, failed? Leo stared at me.

"You're the Chosen." He said, stating what I couldn't say. I stayed silent. Suddenly I was wrapped in a tight embrace.

"It's ok. I'll help you find it." Leo whispered in to my ear. My heart thundered in my chest, so loud I was sure he could hear it. But enveloped in his arms, I felt reassured. Trish was giggling like a little girl. I made a spare piece of firewood fly toward her. It hit her in the arm. Letting go of me, Leo laughed. Trish threw the wood at him. I stopped it with an idle flick of my wrist. Leo laughed even harder, doubling over. I would have laughed too, but then I remembered the Golden Cure. I stood up and tended to the fire in silence. The others fell silent. Then I turned around, looking out of the one tiny window. It was light, but I was sure time was different there. Plus I wanted to be awake when the darkness fell.

"We should get some sleep." I said finally. I took out some more blankets. We each took some and lay down on the surprisingly comfortable floor. The others fell asleep in seconds, but I couldn't seem to stay still. Eventually I gave up and walked outside.

New snow twirled around me as I stood in the bright sunlight. Then I saw something in the distance. It was hard to see, covered by snow as it was, but I recognised it easily. I ran to it and started digging through the snow. I finally uncovered my treasure.

The silver locket gleamed in the sunlight. I opened the cover experimentally. It opened silently to reveal a note. I remembered that frantic day.

It was two years before. Luke and I had run away when we heard somebody scream in our holiday house. Luke clutched the locket in one hand and scribbled a note with the other. He scrunched up the paper and placed it inside the locket. An echoing roar sounded. Luke ran, pulling me along with him. He picked me up and carried me through the calm snow. Blood dripped from hand where he held the locket. It stained my top and wet my hair. Luke broke into a run faster than usual. He stopped at the hut and flung the locket into the snow. The snow swirled around it. A pained howl filled my ears.

I crumpled to the ground. I didn't dare open the note. Not after what had happened. Suddenly pain spread through my hand and blood dripped on to the snow. I stood up, unsurprised. I went inside, tucking the silver locket into my bag. When I lay down, I fell asleep before I could wrap the blankets around me.

When I woke up, I was warm. What? I could've sworn that I hadn't put the blankets on. Then I noticed the arms wrapped tightly around my waist. I twisted round carefully. Leo's face was dangerously close to mine. I turned back. Then I wriggled desperately. No matter what I tried I couldn't break free of Leo's solid grip on my waist. Trish looked at me from across the room.

"You could just blast him…" she mused. I wriggled once more.

"Oh come on! How is he this strong?!" I almost shout in my annoyance.

"Ali…" Leo mumbled quietly. Oops. I had been trying not to wake him. Well, I needed him to wake up anyway.

"You know what Trish, I won't blast him, but I can do something better." I said. Trish smirked. I focused on another new power.

"Flame on!" I said. My whole body exploded in flames. Now I was grateful I watched so many superhero movies. Leo woke up immediately and squelched a shout. I stopped the flames as he let go of me. Then I turned invisible, remembering what had happened to Human Torch in the Fantastic Four. Thank God. I hurriedly put on some clothes and reappeared.

I was now wearing some warm jodhpurs with a thermal top and a ski coat. My feet were shoved into Luke's old hiking boots. I felt a lot warmer. Trish was lying on the floor laughing. Leo was rubbing his burnt arm ruefully, blushing. I kicked Trish as I went over to Leo to sort out his arm. While I was trying out new powers, I might as well try healing. I gingerly touched Leo's arm and hoped. When I let go, the burn was fading. Leo gasped. I ignored him and strode to the door, emotionless.

"Come on. I've got a riddle to solve." I said. Leo frowned and Trish stood up.

"Why do you have to solve it alone?" she asked. Then I had a thought. I wasn't told I had to do it alone. Who said I couldn't have some help? I grinned suddenly.

"I don't. If you guys want to, you could help me? If you don't, I'll send you anywhere with a magic door." I said. Why would they want to help me? I wondered absently where Leo and Trish would want to go.

"Are you kidding?! I'd be bored stiff I went anywhere else. At least like this life is interesting!" Trish squealed and pulled me into a hug. I laughed at her and carefully manoeuvred myself away from her. I looked shyly at Leo.

"Well, where else am I going to go? And where else would I have any fun?" he said, chuckling. I couldn't answer him. Trish giggled madly behind me. Yet again a piece of firewood shot towards her. I could feel her glare on my back. I ignored it and trudged outside, smiling widely.

The Northern Lights glimmered above of me as soon as I stepped outside. I followed the path of the light with my eyes, remembering the legend we'd been told when my parents and finally managed to trick me and Luke into going to a museum. Angels still lived at the end of the Northern Lights.

"I know the riddle, so what are we doing in Alaska?" Trish asked. Leo moved to stand at my side. He peered inquisitively at my face.

"Old legends say that the Northern Lights are made of the Angel's fiery blood. I think all the other Chosen went wrong thinking fire always meant somewhere hot. What if fire is just extreme cold?" I explained quickly.

Leo smiled and I walked off, heading in the direction the Lights seemed to flow. Trish trailed behind as I walked off, Leo easily matching my swift pace.

We walked for what seemed like hours. In reality, it only took twenty minutes. The cabin was the perfect spot to get to the Golden Cure.

Up ahead we could see the glint of metal gates. I quickened my pace. I had to find this Golden Cure, even if it would cost my life. I reached the gates in no time.

The gates glinted in the sunlight, their bronze structures spiked and impossible to climb. I took the locket from around my neck, glaring at the heart-shaped lock on the gate. Of course. I opened the locket and snatched up the note, shoving it in my pocket. Luke had written it for a reason, so it had to be important. I shoved the locket into the heart lock resentfully. The gates shuddered and creaked open. I trudged through the gate, not bothering to check if Leo and Trish were behind me. I would prefer if they left, so they wouldn't get hurt…

We went up to a silver temple, marked with a single owl symbol. I remembered when we learnt about the Greeks in school. The Greeks had many gods and goddesses, including Athena, goddess of wisdom, whose sacred animal was the owl. What a trivial fact! I thought to myself as I opened the large doors. I heard the beating of wings behind me and turned to see Griffy landing right in front of me. He nudged me and scampered on ahead, leading the way.

I grinned. With Griffy here to help me as well, there was no way I could fail. We walked on in silence, the importance of our mission weighing down on us, forcing us into a quiet trance. I stopped abruptly, causing Trish and Leo to crash into my back.

I looked at the path ahead of us. Then I was glad I'd noticed the owl.

There was no path. Ahead there was a gaping hole, with hooks hanging above it, too wide spread to be a monkey bar challenge. I examined them more carefully. Then I was floating next to it. It was a weaving hook. My eyes bulged. Damn that. I looked down into the chasm. I gagged at the thought of falling. I landed back on the tiles. My hand skimmed the edge of the flooring and ice fanned out, creating a path. I took a tentative step onto it. It held soundly. I walked on boldly. Leo didn't hesitate to follow me. Trish held on to Griffy's long feathers as she walked, obviously counting on him for a rescue if all else fails. Good idea. I slow to make sure I could grab Leo if the ice were to crack, since Trish seemed pretty safe with Griffy. When we reached the other end, I started to collapse the far side, causing Trish to shriek and rush forwards. Meanly, I kept the ice falling at her heels, too slowly to ever harm her, too fast to leave her calm. When she reached us, she attempted to punch me; she hit my hand, which changed to be made of diamond at the last second, she groaned and clutched her hand, hopping up and down. I touched her arm, it immediately. I laughed at her murderous expression.

"I find that revenge is a dish best served _ice_ cold." I giggled. I was on a mission, but I was still 16, nobody could change that. Leo and Trish laughed unexpectedly. I smile as I start walking onwards, happy at our first prevail here. Then I notice the tiles ahead. Every second tile has a picture of a spider on it. In a temple that seems to be for Athena, a spider was _not_ a good sign, not after the whole ordeal with Arachne in Greek mythology. I sighed as I stepped on one, not caring for the consequences.

BANG! A spine hits the wall, missing my nose by a millimetre. The trap was obviously designed with somebody taller in mind. I carefully stepped past the next spider tile.

"Do not step on the spiders. Got it, not on the spiders?" I warned the others.

We walk carefully down the hallway. I note the owls that line up perfectly with each spider tile. I couldn't help but be reassured by their presence, surely this meant I was right about the riddle?

When we find the pebble, I'm even more sure. It looked harmless at first, but it unnerved me. So I went to pick it up. Then I noticed the shimmer. It was a holographic projection. I yanked my hand back. It was a hologram, but that didn't mean it wasn't also rigged with lasers or something. In fact, I doubted it wasn't.

We moved on, carefully avoiding anything with the slightest shimmer. We made it to a large stone chamber, on the door there was an inscription.

 _Only one may enter._ I read it twice. Then I looked at the tiny space in the ground, that would no doubt close as soon as one person was through. Leo and Trish looked at each other and nodded.

"So this is why you're meant to do this alone…" Leo thought aloud. I nodded. Leo smiled gently. "Well then, what are you waiting for?!" he laughed at my vacant expression. I smiled briefly. Then I stepped over the hole, falling rather than descending slowly, just because I can't be bothered to stop myself. However, I do stop myself an inch from the ground.

I looked at the room ahead of me. It was circular, with two painted lines, one near the very edge, that I was standing on; the other closer to the middle. Both form circles. Instead of going inside them, I gently ease around the tiny line I was on, hoping. But my hopes are nearly always futile.

A figure appeared in the centre of the room. Then I understood; I was in a fighting arena. I sighed and went to the middle, taking a fighting stance automatically. Then I realised who I was fighting. It was Trish at first. But I knew that was impossible. The image shifted and I was facing Leo. My eyebrows furrowed. Also impossible. Then I was facing Hope. Not impossible, but still strange. At least I wouldn't feel bad when I hit her. So I did. I stuck quickly, first shoving the ball of my hand into her nose, then my foot into her shin. Finally I sent my knee into her stomach. The figure crumpled to the ground. For good measure, I kicked her a few more times in the stomach and face. Childish but, then again, fun.

I walked to the end of the room as a door appeared. I walked into a small white room. Almost at once the door behind me disappeared. The walls around me started to shift, moving closer… closer… I felt the urge to scream. I hated small spaces. Claustrophobia was one of my biggest problems. I took a deep breath and sat down, making myself as small as possible. At once, the walls stopped moving and another door appeared. I walked through to find yet another stone chamber. At the end was a table, with a single scroll on it. The paper was darkened and dusty. Untouched for many years. I grinned. This was it. This was it…

I grabbed the scroll.


	13. Chapter 12

I opened it hesitantly. I didn't know what to expect, an incantation, a relic of some kind. Instead I got another riddle. It wasn't even fair! I read the nonsense aloud.

"'To icy fire you have travelled,

Now prove your worth in times of battle,

But never forget the important thing,

Your fate is in the hands of the immortal string'

"What utter nonsense…" I trailed off. Battle; which could mean anywhere to do with war. But the thing about an 'immortal string', only place came to mind: Greece. It was no doubt about the thread of life mentioned in Greek mythology. More specifically, if we are looking at battle, Sparta. I groaned. Oh great. I looked around. Then I transported myself back to Leo and Trish. My range was only a mile, so I didn't teleport much. But sometimes it was useful to have so many powers. I stumbled as I landed.

Leo grabbed my arm and pulled me tight against him. I blushed straight away. Trish cleared her throat, saving me from further embarrassment. Leo blushed as well, deeper than me.

I grinned for a second. Then I remembered our scheduled trip to Greece. My smile widened, I had always wanted to visit Sparta.

"Well I don't have the fabled Golden Cure. Instead I have another riddle, but I've already figured it out. We're headed to Sparta!" I announced. Leo grinned happily, excited as well; Trish frowned.

"You mean all this was for NOTHING!?" she shouted. I pointed my finger at her as she tried to continue. No words escaped her open mouth. She gripped her throat and glared at me.

"That's better. With her shut up, I can finally… know what, later." Leo grinned at my scowl. I hated secrets.

I sighed and grabbed both their arms. I transported us above ground. The others landed ignominiously on their rear ends. I laughed at them and used my powers to lift them up. They floated for a second. Then Griffy appeared and snatched them out of the air. I doubled over, still laughing.

Then I sobered, remembering the note Luke wrote me. I reached into my pocket and took it out, unfolding it slowly.

 _Ali,_

 _I'm so sorry that I never told you that you are the Chosen. If you're reading this, you have deciphered the first riddle, and you are in Alaska. I hope you have found the second riddle, and figured it out. If you haven't it is in Sparta._ (Ha I knew it!) _Watch out, you aren't the only one after the cure. Remember, you aren't alone, ever._

 _Love, your brother,_

 _Luke_

I read it over thrice. I smiled. No I'm not alone. Ever. I felt my grin widen. I thought up something new, something I'd never tried. Portals could take you further than teleportation, obviously. I concentrated on a window to Sparta and…

BANG! A swirl of light faded into a grassy land with barely a building in sight. It was in the high hills of Sparta. I could make out a forest and a village in the distance. I looked back at Leo and Trish. Leo smiled encouragingly. Trish finally smiled properly for the first time since we got to Alaska. I stepped through the portal.

The warm sun burned through the thermal clothing I was wearing. I changed in a flare of white light. The denim shorts and plain black tank were so much more comfortable. My boots were replaced by white flats. I turned and beckoned to Leo and Trish on the other side of the portal. Leo didn't hesitate to walk though. He blinked in the bright sunlight. He grinned as a flare of light surrounded him as well. He was wearing a pair of blue jeans and his trademark 'I love WAFFLES' top, plus a pair of Nike trainers (they were the first thing I could think of; no blame to me!). I grinned at Trish who walked through the portal. I surrounded her as she was in the portal, changing her into a beautiful baby pink floral dress that stopped just above the knee. It was accompanied by a pair of ankle boots that were perfect for the terrain we were dealing with. We looked like a group of tourists. Well almost…

A wad of money appeared in my hand. I shoved it into my bag. Now we were exactly like tourists. Both Leo and Trish grinned. Griffy soared though the portal just as it closed. We were alone in the Greek countryside.

I walked on ahead. We had reached the forest and were looking for a place to camp; it was getting increasingly dark.

"This should do. I'll find a way to get Madison here. You two set up camp?" I suggested, turning on Leo and Trish when we came to a particularly large rowan tree. They nodded and I went to the other side of the tree to draw. I used ice this time, knowing it would fade better. I created a little trap door that would emerge at Lily Lake, where I last saw Madison. She would hopefully be there. I opened the door and jumped into the darkness.

Water soaked me. I blinked and grinned. My little air bubble was still active at the bottom of the lake, leaving Madison inside, whining. I swam over to her and grabbed hold of the fur around her collar. I teleported us out of the lake. Another portal appeared, this time back to our camp in Sparta. We raced through, dripping water on both sides.

Leo squelched a shout at our sudden appearance. Trish was already prepared and had seen the portal before we came through. I giggled and jumped off Madison. Leo stared at me for a second. Then I remembered I was soaked. My shirt clung to me. Oops. I used magic to dry myself and my clothes. They hung away from my body modestly. I smiled. That's better.

Leo was still staring at me. Slightly uncomfortable, I shifted on my feet. Then I moved past him to climb the rowan tree. It was tall and would provide a good view of the area around us. I had no idea where to o from here. The Spartan war museum? That was our best guess. I carefully manoeuvred upward. I stepped precariously on to a particularly high branch. I bent under my weight, but not nearly enough to worry me. I held onto the branch above me, though, distrusting my own judgment. Good thing as well. The next second, the branch bent further and snapped. I struggled to keep a hold of the branch above me. My feet strained for grip on the rough bark of the tree. I scrambled awkwardly onto a higher branch. I perched on the edge of it, ready to move at a second's notice.

Over the treetops, I could see the outline of buildings against the bright sky. They were on the edge of the forest and it seemed to be a city of sorts. That was where we were headed.

That night, I took watch. I was too alert from the past week or so of falling unconscious way too many times. It couldn't be normal. I sat on the roots of the tree, staring out at the forest. Leo and Trish were both asleep. I looked up at the stars, barely visible through the clouds of leafy canopy above me. As they did at home, the familiar patterns comforted me. I stayed awake the whole night, simply staring at the stars.

When the stars disappeared and dawn rose, I woke Leo and Trish. They both had a go at me for not waking them up for their watches. I ignored them and packed up camp. I climbed aboard Griffy once it was all safely inside either Leo's or my bag. Trish climbed onto Madison and Leo hopped on behind me, forgetting our rowel about watch. Griffy took off, staying in the canopy for Madison's sake. We wove through the trees, making for the city in the distance.

We reached the city by the next morning. Again, I stayed up all night again as we flew. Leo fell asleep on my shoulder, and I could see Trish asleep on Madison's back. I wasn't even tempted to do the same.

At dawn, the two woke again. Leo noticed how tired I was, and tried to scold me. I pointed my finger at him and shut him up. He scowled at me the whole way to the city. I saw a museum and landed around back. Madison and Trish followed behind us, looking like a girl being dragged by her dog to the citizens of Sparta. I broke the lock on the back door. I didn't like the idea of braking into a museum, but I was not about to wait hours to get this stupid Golden Cure.

"Come on, you stupid code! There's got to be some sort of clue!" I growled in frustration. I held my hand just a centimetre away from the second lock, a number code. I concentrated. It beeped gently and the door swung open. I sighed with relief. Leo went through first, drawing his mallet. I pushed past him, unarmed. We would seem like less of a threat this way. I flicked my hand at the mallet anyway, thinking quickly.

"If anybody sees us, you're robbing the place, we're hostages. That should buy us some time." I explained to Leo in whispers. He held the mallet-transformed-gun in his hand uncomfortably. As if on cue, a crash sounded in the corridor and a man burst through. Trish backed up, knowing she hadn't been seen. I sneaked a nod at her. Smart move. Leo placed the gun against the back of my head, playing my ploy. I disguised him. Otherwise it would look weird. Leo hands were shaking madly. I took a step backwards to him. He grunted at my attempt to make this work. I added a few smashed vases to the guards vision. He didn't see two kids in a clean hallway. He saw a man holding a girl hostage to steal something from the museum, standing in a wrecked corridor. The man raised his gun.

"Leave the kid alone, put the gun down." He growled. I blinked. What was he thinking? A small annoyed sigh escaped my lips. Leo thought quickly.

"Put your weapon down or I'll shoot her!" He shouted. I flinched dramatically, staring innocently at the guard. He stared at me, almost guiltily. But he put his gun on the ground. I knocked him out by sending a sword from a weapon exhibit flying across the room. Its hilt hit him in the head. I smiled as he crumpled. Then I transformed the gun against my head back to mallet. Leo put it away, shaking. Trish was still hiding. She didn't know it was over yet.

"Are you okay Leo? You're shaking." I spoke gently, like you did to a spooked animal. He kept shaking, not answering me. He tried to focus on putting the sword back. I made it fly straight into perfect placing. Then I moved the guard in the same fashion, he slumped against a chair for visitors down the corridor. It would look like he fell asleep. The ordeal with me and Leo would be considered a dream. Especially since the corridor was in perfect state, comparing it to his vision. Leo still ignored my question. Trish came out from her hiding place inside a control room. She managed to manipulate the cameras so it looks like nothing happened at all.

We walked through the halls of the museum. Then I saw something. I ran to it, leaving Leo and Trish ahead of me. Leo called after me, but I ignored him. It was a piece of black yarn, held in a glass box. I read the inscription.

 _Replica of the fabled sting of life. Supposedly causes death when cut. Held by the Fates._

I smiled and took out my dagger. The glass disappeared. I sliced neatly. It cut precisely in half. A hole appeared beneath my feet and I fell down. I slowed automatically. I was getting too used to these powers and falling down holes.

It was dark at the bottom for a second. Then light filled the room. I looked up and saw Leo and Trish peering down anxiously into the dark cellar. I smiled. I gestured for them to come down. Leo jumped. I slowed him down as he was about to hit the ground. He fell the last inch or so on his own. Trish followed him. I did the same for her. She scowled into the darkness.

"Come on. We have another clue to find. I doubt we're finding that cure today." I sighed. We walked on through the dim light. We encountered no traps like in the last clue. It was eerie in silence. We continued to talk, about random, irrelevant things, just to penetrate the crushing silence. It seemed to work. When we came to a door, I realised that the long corridor was a test. If we hadn't been talking, I would have gone insane in the silence. I grinned as we walked through. And there was the scroll. Along with two others. I groaned. Three scrolls? One for each of us. I walked toward the one in the middle. Trish went to the one on the right. When Leo tried to follow me, she pushed him to the left. We reached the scrolls at the same time. We picked them up, my movements robotic, Trish and Leo's normal. We opened them at the same time. All it said on mine was directions to a place called Dernom.

 _'Dernom brings safety. Go right at home, then left at school. If you are the true Chosen, you will find the…'_

I looked at Leo and Trish in turn.

"Does anybody have a scroll that makes sense?" Trish asked. Then I realised. Of course, it was the same scroll, split into three parts. No doubt they all had to be lifted at the same time, otherwise it would set off some trap. I walked back to meet the two at the end of the chamber. I took Leo's scroll and placed it in front of mine, then put Trish's behind both. I read the full riddle. Only it wasn't exactly a riddle.

" _You are closer than ever to the cure. But still more you must endure. Find the lost Dernom world, haven safety for Spirituals all. Dernom brings safety. Go right at home, then left at school. If you are the true Chosen, you will find the…portal broad. It will take you straight to the next clue, which will supply the cure you're so desperately looking for._ " I groaned. Again? More annoying clues? Trish wore the same look of annoyance. For some reason, Leo, despite the ever cryptic and tedious riddles, was grinning madly. Knowing where I was going next, I teleported us to the surface.

I grabbed Griffy's plumage too roughly as I got on. He barked a growl. I released him in a hurry and got on Madison behind Trish instead. Leo got on Griffy. The two were better accustomed to each other after our rush trip to Lottie's. Another portal appeared, and we all changed clothes for a second time in a flash of white light.

My new jeans were ripped, but in a fashionable way. Since it _was_ summer, I was in a thin white crop top with long sleeves. A new pair of brown ankle boots adorned my feet. Trish was now in a pair of jeans, ripped like mine, a black tank identical to the one I was wearing only seconds before. Black flats were slipped onto her feet. I glanced at Leo, being sure I had done everything right.

I had, he was still in his jeans and waffle top, but his Nike trainers were gone, replaced by his worn old ones. But they suited where we were going much better. I was going home.

We charged though the portal, and ended up outside my old house. I didn't want to delay my mission, but if I knew Luke, he would be stressing about me. Over and over. I sighed as I looked at the building, memories hitting me in waves, sending sharp pain though my chest. I felt my eyes sting with the familiar presence of tears. I remembered reading somewhere that tears were scientifically impossible. More random trivia, I thought, very useful.

Leo and Trish waited in my room, where Griffy dropped us off, all at once. He seemed better now. I rubbed his nose apologetically. Leo and Trish sat on my bed. I ignored them as I repacked my bag. Then I walked out of the room. Leo followed me and stood in the hallway as I stood outside Luke's room, breathing unsteadily. I knocked, still completely unprepared.

The door open straight away, and I was pulled into another one of Luke's too tight hugs. Suddenly, we were knocked apart. I fell to the floor, confused. Leo stood in front of me, glaring at Luke. I could see a telltale vein on his forehead bulging. Not now Leo! I was about to scream at him to stop when I noticed something glistening on the floor, halfway between me and Luke.

It was a dagger, made of silver and gold, with a sapphire embedded in its hilt. Leo just saved me from being murdered my own brother, I think. I stand up, unsteady, unsure. I reached out to touch Leo's arm. He flinched and pushed me behind him. Luke grinned psychotically.

"Thought you could escape Hope, escape me?! Ha. You are kidding yourself. So instead you employ this little… guard-dog. He's not even scary." I cocked my head, confused again. "Aw, he's not a guard dog. That means—" he cut off, glaring fiercely at Leo. But not in the Luke way, with emotion behind it, but in a cold way I've only seen in one other place. Peter.

"Yes, Peter. You figured it out." I growled. I had no idea what he was talking about, but I acted as if I did. Sometimes that made all the difference. Peter paled as Leo grinned. I was still confused but I went with it. "Now why don't you stop being a coward, and show your true self, instead of simply disguising yourself?" I suggested. Peter obliged quickly. The hate and… something else… in his eyes made the hairs on my arms stand on end. Suddenly he was unconscious. It was another new power I'd been deliberating, only I had no reason to try it yet. Plus I wasn't sure if it would work and not just kill them, Peter—who I absolutely hate—seemed like the perfect test subject. But I could still see the somewhat steady rise and fall of his chest. As I walked past him, I kicked him in the arm, just as a goodbye present. Leo seemed to approve.

Luke was in his room, only, he was sitting at his desk, listening to loud heavy metal music that I could hear through his headphones. He was working on a model ship, just to distract himself. I still didn't trust him completely after the indecent with Peter, but I was reassured by Leo's constant presence. It made me feel better that he was watching if anything else happened.

Luke embraced me, even tighter than Peter. I hugged him back, he was my brother after all. When we let go, he peered deep into my eyes, looking past my carefully assembled mask. Only he can do that, I wondered idly if it's part of his powers.

"You found the third clue. Well done! No offence or anything, but who is the kid with the waffle top, he looks kind of stupid…" He trails off at my expression. That's something I'd always been able to do, shut people up with a look. Leo looked uncomfortable.

"This 'kid in the waffle top' is the only thing that kept your sister alive for the last week or so. It's not my fault you were a bad enough brother to leave her alone to defend herself. And you better get used to me, I'm not going anywhere without Ali. _I mean that._ " He growled the last part. I moved away from Luke and touched Leo's arm, seeing that little telltale vein again. He took a deep breath to steady himself. Luke looked wounded at first, then he grinned to himself.

"Oh, now I see. Now I see." He chuckled. He looked between the two of us. Leo suddenly blushed, confusing me further.

"I was going to stay for an hour or two, but if you are just making cryptic remarks… see you later Luke!" I walked out of the room. Leo followed me, ginning stupidly. Back in my room, I added the things Trish had collected for our journey, including a tent I never even knew I had.

Outside my house, I turned right down my road. We kept walking until we reached my school. We saw loads of my friends. Some waved. My best friend, Yuksel, jogged over, her ponytail bobbing up and down. Her face was pink and flushed as usual. She was more tanned than usual.

"Where have you been?" She cried in her innocent little voice. She hugged me, pushing all the air out of my lungs. Trish snickered and Leo put his hand on my shoulder, almost protectively. I laughed breathlessly. Yuksel released me and I breathed deeply for a second.

"I've been very busy." I exclaimed, "and Leo, if you don't mind, I doubt my best friend will hurt me!" Leo moved away, and Trish giggled at his dagger stare. Yuksel gave him a weird look. "Yuksel, this is Leo and Trish, friend. Trish, Leo—Yuksel, my best friend." Trish mocked a pout. I laughed again.

"I've called you half a million times. Honestly, you haven't been that busy that you can't answer your phone!" Yuksel pouted for real. I shook my head sadly. I looked over my shoulder. Then I took out my phone. There were no missed calls… Again? That was my first phone, so she hadn't possibly called the wrong number.

"Peter, don't lie. And don't pretend to be my best friend." I sighed. I kicked him in the shin. He collapsed to the floor, changing back to himself. I knocked him unconscious again. I judged where I had kicked his arm last time, and kicked him in the same place again. Then I teleported him back into the forest, as far away as I could get. We continued walking, discussing Dernom to pass the time. It was quite a long walk to my school. When we got there, I turned left around and I saw a small key on the ground. I picked it up. On it there was the code: _E12_. That was my English room. Do we have to go in there? I thought herd. There was that picture of a portal on the display board…

We ran through the school, up the stairs to the first floor. Down the hall to E12. We walked straight to the portal and I put the key on it. A bright white light filled the room. And we were sucked through the portal.


	14. Chapter 13

I opened my eyes tentatively. I looked up at the castle. It was beautiful, covered in climbing ivy and jasmine. The stone glistened white and loomed above me. Trish and Leo lay on the ground, both still asleep. I sat up, and was cheerfully greeted by a pounding headache, aching ribs and a screaming side. Perfect. I stood up carefully, looking around. Griffy suddenly swooped down and landed in front of me, encouraging a little screech out of me. I laughed at myself and sent him to wake Leo up. I woke Trish myself. She blinked sleepily at me. Then she sprang to her feet. She clutched her head with annoyance. I laughed and told her to calm down. Then I heard a yell.

"Get this damn gryphon off of me!" Leo bellowed. I turned to see Griffy standing over Leo, and then there's Leo, lying on the ground, his nose red. I press my lips together to keep from laughing. My shoulders shake with the contained laughter. Of course, I should never have left Griffy to wake up Leo, he would do something like that. Madison ran out of the forest then, sniffing the air excitedly. She acted almost like a puppy, compared to when I first saw her, confined by the cage of those men. I shuddered at the thought, the movement disguised by my contained laughter.

Past the castle, I see nothing but forests. So this was Dernom. Sweet. I scanned the area for the next clue. I see it carved in to a tree, rather unceremoniously. I chuckle quietly and walk over to it.

 _Welcome, Spirituals all, you are home. Dernom is the home and birthplace of Spirituals. If you are here, you have followed the Chosen, who will be your monarch. Good luck in this abandoned world._

Under that message, there was the clue.

 _Sea water caves hide many secrets,_

 _Jewels, gold and other treasures,_

 _One golden chest with golden lock,_

 _Hides the one you're searching for_.

I sighed. Back to four line riddles. Fun. Under that:

 _Basements: portals to anywhere. Use to find spirituals. Throw party._

I smiled. A party seemed like a good idea. Chasing after the Golden Cure sure did tire me out. I went up to the door of the castle and knocked loudly. The door opened with a creek.

"Ali's here! Hurry up Lottie, she's already here!" Jay called. I closed my eyes. Then opened them again, just to be sure. Yes, it really was Jay. Leo moved to stand next to me, Trish on the other side. We all eyed him suspiciously.

"What? When you opened the portal, one opened in the school. Lottie set it up when she made the school. We've been preparing the party!" he exclaimed. We all laughed. Trish didn't detect a lie, so we were safe. We went in together. And it was true. Lottie was helping the Spirituals set up a party in the ball room. The castle was amazing. When we entered, Lottie spun towards us. I smiled at her. She dipped a curtsey. I felt my smile disappear. My eyebrows furrowed.

"Queen Alice. Sounds better than Queen Ali, don't you think." She piped happily. I thought back to the messages on the tree.

"I'm no Queen. Defiantly not. Monarchy doesn't tend to work. How about a republic. Sounds easier. And better." I mumbled. I could never be a Queen. Lottie pouted.

"No republics, they don't work for Spirituals. How about President? Or Mayor?" She insisted. I nodded numbly. "Never mind. Party time now!" she smiled.

Lottie sent us to rooms, but secretly, me and Trish sneaked in to one in the middle of both of us. We both hated the silly long dresses Lottie had lay out for us, so…

The tight black dress stopped before the knee on Trish. White roses travelled down her back flawlessly. The black stilettos go perfectly with them. Her hair was in a loose bun. I gave her a gold necklace with obsidian chunks. It was too gaudy for me, but she loved it. I was in a dark blue strapless number. It faded into a lighter sea greenish-blue towards the hem. It stopped slightly too high for my taste, but Trish said it was fine, so I went with it. The small white flats are supposed to represent sea-foam, so said Trish anyway. I left my hair open over my shoulders. My only accessory was my thin bracelet.

We walked down to the party together. Outside it was dark and the stars could be seen. We chatted about how nice it was to take a shower when we first got there. Before we went in, I pulled something out of thin air. It was an afterthought, but it would make all the difference. Trish stared at the small bottle.

"Mine!" she cries in delight, seizing the perfume off me. She sprayed it straight away, engulfing herself in the scent of dark vanilla and black rose. I laughed and pulled another one out. I sprayed it gently on myself. An intoxicating scent of the sea filled me. I breathed deeply and sighed. Trish approved of my commitment to costume. I wasn't thinking of my outfit really, I just knew the scent would calm me. I grinned like that was the whole idea.

We walked in at the same time, and were immediately whisked to the dance floor. Whitney grabbed my arm as a new song came on. It was a lovely song I had never heard of. We danced for at least an hour. Then I got tired. I walked over to the refreshments table. I'd been socialising as well as dancing. I saw Lottie at the punch bowl and ran over.

"How did you find so many spirituals? There are so many here…" I trailed off at Lottie's excitement. "What?"

"Luke's here!" she finally spat out. I glared at her. "He's gone looking for you." I groaned at her. I made a strangling motion at her, then stalked off to find my brother. He was out on the balcony, staring out at the sky. If he was looking for me… Lottie! She told him to come here and set us up! Damn her. I stood next to Luke, staring up.

"You are doing really well. Too well. You need to be careful, especially with that Leo boy. I don't like him." He said. I pushed him with my shoulder.

"You don't like anybody, remember? Or are you Mr Nice-guy now?" I laughed bleakly. Luke grinned.

"No still hate all. Still be careful, there's something about him I don't like." He continued.

"Well, there's something I don't like about you, should I be careful around you?" I asked sarcastically. Luke's grin grew more pronounced.

We talked for an hour or so, discussing all sorts. Then Luke went in to dance. He needed a girlfriend, I though as he walked off, or maybe he already had one. When Luke was gone, I stayed looking out at the endless forests. We would have to build houses, and find water and food. It would be very hard. I didn't notice Leo until he spoke up.

"Amazing, isn't it?" He sighed. I gasped and spun on my heel to face him, nearly falling down. I gripped the marble railing to steady myself.

"Do _not_ do that me!" I gasped, looking him over. He must have ignored the clothes Lottie left out as well. He wore black jeans and a top reading 'Good Vibes'. I smiled despite my comment. He wore his worn trainers, but somehow, it seemed right, even at a party. He looked me over meticulously. I felt like I could barely breathe.

We just stood there, like that for who knows how long.

After a while I started to feel uncomfortable. I cleared my throat quietly.

"Maybe we should… you know… go back to the party?" I managed to stammer. I somehow ended it as a question.

"Not yet. We never get to be alone." He sighed, taking a step closer to me. There was less than a foot of space between us. I felt my face heat, and I hoped he couldn't see it in the pale light of the moon. I knew he could though. He laughed nervously. I don't know why it gave me courage, maybe because I knew I wasn't the only one who was nervous. Who knew.

Leo rubbed the back of his neck and stared at his shoes. I started to get annoyed.

"Leo, if you want to tell me something, say it now, or I'm going back to the party. Whitney does more than just stand there." I said, a bit too coldly. I didn't mean it like that, so I added, in a softer voice, "I understand if it's something embarrassing, but can you please tell me? Please?"

Leo still looked half afraid but he spoke up.

"I don't know how to explain this. At all." He laughed shakily. He took a half step forwards again, nearly closing the space between us. That's when I realised I was shaking in the cold night air. Leo noticed too. He laughed again, still nervous. I was no longer nervous at all, just curious. For no particular reason, I reach out and take Leo's hand. His fingers twined around mine. He seemed to take courage from my small gesture.

"You look nice tonight." He comments, stalling. I blushed deeply. Leo took a deep breath, "I think, maybe, I'm in… l-l-" he couldn't finish, but I thought I understood what he meant. He's in love. In love with who? I tilted my head, confused again. Suddenly Leo did what I least expected—I really should have, it was quite obvious. He closes the space between us, pulling me against him, and set his lips against mine.

For a minute I was frozen. Confused and disbelieving. Then I relaxed, sliding my arms around his neck. My face, which was already flushed, heated even more. His arms wrapped around my waist, trying to pull me closer.

Then I pulled away from the kiss, but the moment didn't end.

"I love you." Leo announced quietly. I laughed breathlessly.

"I guessed." I said, "I love you, too."

I would have been content to stay there, wrapped in his embrace for a little while longer.

"Aw, how cute!" Called an all too familiar voice. I broke away from Leo fully, just as a cold laugh sounded at the other end of the balcony.


	15. Epilogue

I shook out my hands nervously. Leo laughed and took my hand in his, squeezing gently. I smiled at him. We were waiting for Trish. After the incident last night, we didn't separate. Thus, we didn't find her to discuss our plan. But we knew it would work. It had to work. Blaze soared in the sky with Griffy, playing. It was nice to see Griffy relax for a while. Such a short while. But we had to leave.

When Trish finally came into the food hall, she saw us holding hands and groaned.

"So you finally told her, Leo?" she asked, grinning. I raised an eyebrow.

"Finally? Just how long have you been waiting to tell me?" I looked at Leo. He flushed bright red.

"A long time. I realised when we were captured by the Spirit Hunters actually…" he grinned at my livid expression. He waited _how long_ to tell me!? I frowned.

"Well, come on. We have a Golden Cure to find, don't we?" I said, fed up of this conversation already.

"Yes ma'am!" Leo said with a salute. We all laughed.


End file.
